Page f85r2

[f85r1]  [index]  [f86v4]

Identification

  Title: "The four ages of Man"
  Page: f85r2 = NB (Rene) = p??? (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.

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

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