Page f72v1
[f72v2] [index] [f73r]
Identification
Title: "Libra"
Page: f72v1 = KH (Rene) = p142 (Stolfi)
Folio: f72
Panels: f72v1
Bifolio: bK1 = f71+f72
Quire: K (Rene) = XI (Beinecke)
This page is the innermost verso panel of an eight-panel fold-out.
Attributes
Language: ? (Currier)
Hand: ? (Currier)
Subsets: Z (Rene), zod (Stolfi)
Subject: zodiac
Colors: yellow(stars) (Reeds), green(scales),blue(inside_scale_baskets) (Rene)
Description
[To be checked and completed]
Six faint, mostly concentric, mechanically drawn circles delimit
three rings of text. The outer ring runs right up to the binding
gutter on the right. There may be a wider word gap at 09:00 (but
the image is very poor there). A radial stroke cuts across the
middle ring at 08:30 (may be a modern scribble).
The two circles that delimit the inner ring of text are quite
irregular.
Inside the inner ring there is a two-plate balance scale,
slightly offset to the right. The beam is a narrow rectangular
ruler, with a darker stripe running down its middle. The pivot is
not visible, but seems to be fixed at the bottom of an upright
rectangular frame, with a handle or ring on top (partly hidden
under the innermost text ring). A narrow triangular pointer rises
from the beam's midpoint up to the top of the supporting frame. An
object resembling a sliding counterweight seems to be resting over
the beam, a little to the left of the pivot. Each end of the beam
has a thin horizontal extension, from whose tip there hangs a
hemispherical cup with thick walls, supported by three or four
straight threads or wires.
Below the scale there is a single word in non-Voynich script,
apparently "oct~ebre" in lowercase Latin cursive (with a
tilde or macron over the "te").
Between the bands of text, there are two bands of naked figures
("nymphs"), 10 in the inner one, 20 in the outer one. Most of them
are clearly female (visible breasts, long hair). All nymphs are naked,
mostly in 3/4 view (between frontal and facing clockwise).
A hole in the vellum, less than 5mm across, covers a small segment
of the middle ring. at 03:00. The preceding word runs up to the
hole, but is apparently whole. A nymph in the inner band, at
03:15, also has the hair squeezed against the hole.
The outer nymph at 12:15 wears a crown, consisting of a ring of
flaring triangular points, each with a dot; and a dome with double
outline, topped by a spike or cross (too small to tell).
Each nymph is holding or pointing to a star.
There is a Voynichese label just clockwise of each nymph.
Rene [07 Apr 1999] observes that this folio is all curled up.
Comments
The scale is the standard symbol for the sign of Libra.
Libra is from ??? to ???.
The stroke at 08:30, if original, suggests that the text should be
read starting from there.
The way f72v3 overlaps f72v2 indicates that they were drawn in
that order.
The drawing of the balance is very accurate in all details, in
spite of the relatively crude perspective and technique. It looks
as if the author was very familiar with the instrument. I suspect
that the model may be more appropriate for a druggist than for a
grocer.
The details of the drawings around the hole suggest that the
hole was already there when the drawing was made.
References
[f72v2] [index] [f73r]