Thank you. I did actually cite the long-necked Taurus at the top, but maybe I didn’t make the relationship clear enough. It is from the same manuscript as the animal pictures just below it (BPL 14a Belgian bestiary, c. 1350).
]]>D.N. O’Donovan wrote: “I wonder if those pictures you’ve seen of lion cubs with spotted hides weren’t actually images of the American ‘mountain lion’ – the cougar.”
No, I’m not talking about American lions. I know the difference. Some Old World lion cubs are spotted. These cubs were born to a pair of African lions and they are distinctly spotted:
https://02varvara.wordpress.com/tag/lion-cub/
Some Asian lion cubs are also spotted. Here are additional examples of spotted cubs from various regions:
I’ve never insisted that the VMS cat is a lion, but it has to be acknowledged that young lions have no manes and sometimes spots.
D.N. O’Donovan wrote: “I might also mention that to draw beasts with tails wound around like this was quite common in some of the stonework, and a fairly general convention in art of the Islamic world, as well as in western Jewish manuscripts. It is actually less common in Latin works, though you certainly found some very nice examples.”
The tail wound through the legs is common in many cultures. I’m quite aware that it is found in Jewish and Islamic manuscripts.
But you are wrong about it being less common in Latin works. Lions with tails wound through their legs are extremely common in Latin works, so common, I gave up collecting examples after I found several thousand. They are particularly common in France.
…
In fact, I have almost 70 zodiacs in my collection that specifically depict a lion with its tail between its legs. Only a few are eastern, the rest are western. The eastern Leo is usually paired with Cancer as a crab. The western Leo with tail through its leg is usually paired with a crayfish (80%) and thus more closely parallels the VMS.
I might also mention that to draw beasts with tails wound around like this was quite common in some of the stonework, and a fairly general convention in art of the Islamic world, as well as in western Jewish manuscripts. It is actually less common in Latin works, though you certainly found some very nice examples.
]]>So we are likely looking for one or more works from around the turn of the century that had already departed from the formalized style of 14th century French works, yet were still more under their direct influence than later Alsatian MSS.
]]>This part starts at fol. 26. It would be of interest to know on which folios your examples can be found.
Both parts are in different hands and may have been conceived as independent books.
There are numerous parallel copies of this work, and most if not all can be related to the city of Utrecht.
It seems of interest to find out the identity and location of the other copies and check their illustrations.
I won’t be able to find the time to do that.