Page 221 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

117 * of them all is allotted the head, and the Bull the sun stood on the day of the year an observa-
receives as his estate the handsome neck; evenly tion was made. Another disk, the index of the
ZODIAC MAN AND VOLVELLE bestowed, the arms to shoulders joined are moon, is now missing, but the user would have
accounted to the twins; the breast is put down to set it on the number on the index of the sun that
from the Guild-Book of the the Crab, the realm of the sides and the shoulder corresponded to the phase of the moon in its
Barber Surgeons of York blades are the Lion's, the belly comes down to the monthly cycle on the day of observation. With
probably 1486 Maid as her rightful lot; the Balance governs the the index of the moon in place, a doctor, for exam-
English loins, and Scorpion takes pleasure in the groin; ple, could read the zodiacal sign and the degree
manuscript on vellum and paper, 124 fols. the thighs lie to the Centaur, Capricorn is tyrant occupied by the moon on that day. This would
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27.5 X 19 (l0 /4 X 7 /2J of both knees, whilst the pouring Waterman has have enabled him to determine auspicious dates
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references: British Museum 1882, 334-335, no. Eg.
2572; Bober 1948, 25, pis. 8d-e; Pattie 1980, 31, fig. the lordship of the shanks, and over the feet the for treatment and avoid days when the moon
8; Jones 1984, 71-74, fig. 30 Fishes claim jurisdiction." A corresponding icono- was in signs related to the relevant parts of the
graphic tradition developed in the thirteenth cen- patient's body. J.M.M.
The British Library Board, London, MS Egerton tury and became increasingly popular, especially
2572, fols. 5ov-$ir in the late Middle Ages. The "zodiac man," as is
the case here, was usually illustrated in a medical
The Guild-Book of the Company of Barber- rather than a strictly astrological context, for he
Surgeons of the city of York was begun in the readily indicated the part of the body which 118-119
fifteenth century, but much material was added should not be operated on or subjected to blood-
subsequently; the last addition to the register letting when the moon was located in the sign Albrecht Diirer
of members was made in 1786. The oldest part ruling over it. Nuremberg, 1471-1528
consists of a Latin calendar for the use of York The volvelle on fol. 51 r is surrounded by four
(fols. 44r~49v), followed by a bifolium on thicker saints: John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, CELESTIAL MAP OF THE NORTHERN SKY
vellum with drawings, partly in color, of a "blood- the patrons of the barber-surgeons' guild, are
letting man'' (fol. 501), a "zodiac man" (fol. 5ov), shown on the top; below are Cosmas and Damian, 1515
woodcut
a revolving wheel (fol. 511), and finally the Four well known as patrons of the medical arts. The 42.7 x 42.7 (i6 /4 x i6 /4)
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Temperaments (fol. 51 v). The "zodiac man" matrix itself shows, from the inside out, the band
(Homo signorum) is intended to illustrate the of the zodiac with the twelve signs identified by
domination of the twelve signs of the zodiac over name, then an indication of the thirty degrees CELESTIAL MAP OF THE SOUTHERN SKY
various parts of the human body, a notion that occupied by each sign. Next come the twelve 1515
dates back to classical antiquity. For example, in months, also identified by name, and their respec- woodcut
his Astronomica (2,453-465), the Roman poet tive number of days. The central movable disk, 43.1x43.1 (17x17)
Manilius described the way in which the limbs are known as the index of the sun, had its pointer set
subject to different signs: "the Ram, as chieftain at the sign and exact degree of the zodiac where references: Saxl 1927; Voss 1943, 59—150; Zink
1968, 121-127; Nuremberg 1971, 171-174, nos. 309-
310; Washington 1971, 190-191, nos. and figs. 198-
199; Strauss 1980, 488-492, nos. 171-172; New
York and Nuremberg 1986, 315, no. 134
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Harris
Brisbane Dick Fund, 1951

In the diary of his journey to the Netherlands,
Diirer recorded that he gave to Agostino Scar-
pinello, secretary to the bishop of Tuy, Aloisius
Marliano, "the two parts of the Imagines'' by
which he meant his woodcut maps of the northern
and southern sky (Imagines coeli septentrionalis
and Imagines coeli meridionalis cum duodecim
imaginibus zodiaci). The latter has an inscription
on a scroll indicating that Johann Stabius was
responsible for the general arrangement
("Joannfes] Stabius ordinavit"), that Konrad Hein-
fogel calculated the place of the stars ("Conradus
Heinfogel Stellas posuit"), and that Albrecht
Diirer drew the figures ("Albertus Diirer imagini-
bus circumscripsit"); below are the coats of arms
of the three contributors, including Diirer's. The
two celestial maps, as well as a terrestrial map of
the eastern hemisphere made at the same time,
were dedicated to Cardinal Matthaus Lang of Wel-
lenberg, who had served Emperor Maximilian as
secretary. His arms appear in the upper left corner
of the map of the southern sky; in the upper right

220 CIRCA 1492