#
# Identification:
#
#   * Title: "The four ages of Man"
#   * Page: f85r2 = NB (Rene) = p166 (Stolfi)
#   * Folio: f85
#   * Panels: f85r2
#   * Bifolio: bN1 = f85+f86
#   * Quire: N (Rene) = XIV (Beinecke)
#
#   This is the verso of the top left panel of a 12-panel fold-out.
#   It is visible when the horizontal fold is closed but the vertical fold is open.
#   The left and bottom sides of the panel are folio edges.
#   The top side of the panel is the horizontal crease.
#   The right side of the panel is a vertical valley crease that
#   sits on top of the binding gutter.
#
#   Levitov figure 21, page 151.
#
# Attributes:
#
#   * Language: B (Currier)
#   * Hand: 3 (Currier)
#   * Subsets: C (Rene), cos (Stolfi)
#   * Subject: cosmological
#   * Colors: ??? (Reeds)
#
# Description:
#
#   The page contains only a circular diagram. The outer frame consists
#   of a ring of text between two faint mechanically-drawn circles. The
#   starting point of the text is not evident. ( The whole arc between
#   08:00 and 10:00 is unreadable in the source image. There is also an
#   extra-wide gap at 07:30, but it may be just a faded word.)
#
#   At the center of the diagram is a sun with neutral expression
#   and narrow reverse-S-shaped rays. Surrounding it is a colored disk
#   textured with a whirlpool pattern, bent clockwise-out. 
#
#   The disk is framed by a circular band with six semicircular lobes
#   (one each at North and South, two each at West and East), containing
#   a ring of text and delimited by two narrow, decorated, cordon-like
#   borders. A double radial stroke, cutting across the frame at 09:00,
#   seems to mark the starting point of the text. The inner border of
#   the frame consists of two mechanically drawn circles, about a
#   millimeter apart, and is decorated by 10 pairs of double parentheses
#   ((   )). The outer border is a hand drawn solid double line with a
#   line of dots down the middle.
#
#   The space between the inner and outer frames is divided into unequal
#   sectors by four beams, placed like the arms of an "X". The beams are
#   narrower near the center than at the periphery. Each beam continues
#   past and under the outer frame, ending in a broad plume, resembling
#   a soft wet brush. The plume makes a sharp U-turn and passes again
#   behind the outer frame, while tapering down to a point. The NE plume
#   bends clockwise, the other three bend counterclockwise.
#
#   Each sector between the outer and inner frames contains a paragraph
#   of text near the outer end (to be read clockwise), and a human
#   figure. The sex of the figures is indeterminate, as neither breasts
#   nor beards are visible. The South figure is leaning on a staff, and
#   looks like an old man or woman; the other three could be women or
#   young men, possibly children.
#
#   The figures are partially hidden behind by the inner frame: the
#   South figure is hidden from the knees down by the inner frame, and
#   the other three are hidden from the waist down. All four figures
#   wear a colored, buttonless shirt, with long and narrow sleeves,
#   which in the South figure is seen to be a tunic or dress, ending
#   just above the knee. Ring collars are visible in the North and West
#   figures. All three figures have light hair, bushy over the ears and
#   cropped just below them. The East figure wears a dark
#   skullcap.
#
#   The right hands of West, North, and East are hidden by the inner
#   frame. With the left hand, North seems to be pointing to the last
#   word of the text above (which sits on a line by itself); East holds
#   an unidentified dark object, consisting of two stacked bulbs of unequal
#   size, topped by a short spike (it could be a root); and West seems
#   to be holding a flower, shaped like a lily but dark colored. South
#   holds a staff with the left hand, and a chain with three huge rings
#   on his right.
#
# Comments:
#
#   It has been conjectured that the four figures represent the Four
#   Ages of Man. If the diagram is to be read clockwise, like the text,
#   then West (who lies over the "start marker", by the way) would be
#   Infancy. However, East (with the skullcap) looks younger than the
#   other three.
#
# References:
#
#
# Last edited on 1999-07-20 15:22:40 by stolfi