Page f81r - Biological
Two large tubs

Summary

Page f81r is notorious for comprising with f78v a two-page drawing that should be at the center of the quire, but is interruped by bifolio f79-f80. It shows two large tubs, one at the top of the page, the other at the bottom, with a block of text in between. There are 7 nymphs bathing in the top tub, and 6 in the bottom one. A pair of narrow channels carry overflow water from the large tub in f78v to the inlets of these two tubs.

There is a large translucent stain near the east edge. The vellum around that stain has several large creases and crinkles that crossed the text and interfered with it. That area also has some surfacing problem that caused ink strokes to become blurred. The Scribe tried to avoid that area, resulting in lines with straight left rail but with very irregular right rail.

There are few if any clear signs of retracing on the text. The dark color and broad strokes suggest a careful first round of retracing (Rt1) of the whole text, rather than original text (Rt0). There are many tails of @y and @l that look like they were retraced only half-way, and continue with a much fainter trace; but those weight discontinuities could be ink-flow artifacts. There are a few glyphs and parts thereof that were probably retouched at a later time (Rt2; maybe Rt3).

The illustations, on the other hand, show the usual signs of retracing. The walls of the N tub and the walls and bottom of the S tub are likely original (Rt0). The nymphs seem to have been completely retraced, complete with nipples and belly buttons. Some of the nymphs have the scalloped "showercap" diadems characteristic of Rt2/Rt3.

All clips

The following annotated clips show additional examples of retracing:

Links