Sola Busca XXI: Globe with Dragon

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This is the higher trump of the Sola Busca deck (Nabuchodenasor).
I think the globe is intended to remind the World cards of common tarot.
But what is the specific meaning of this quite peculiar globe?

The deck was engraved, probably in Ferrara, 1485 ca.
Consider that the stars on the globe were likely added by the painter who illuminated the deck (Venice, 1491). The additions by the painter might clarify the original intention of the engraver, but it is also possible that he misinterpreted or ignored the original meaning.

I would say the engraved globe included:
1. the globe divided in four parts
2. the dragon

What do you think that the engraver intended to represent with this globe?
If you have similar images to propose, they are definitely welcome :)

Marco

Re: Sola Busca XXI: Globe with Dragon

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I hadn't thought of the stars as being at the painter's discretion before. Thanks for that Marco.

Assuming they are not meaningful doesn't help much for me though - I still see a World-type reference, like the A-type packs that show the globe with elements, earth, moon and stars (Rosenwald, Beaux-Arts).

My first interpretative thought to this card was the story "Bel and the Dragon", which is chapter 14 of the book of Daniel in Latin Bibles.
[verses 23-27, New Revised Standard Version Translation]
Now in that place there was a great dragon, which the Babylonians revered. The king said to Daniel, "You cannot deny that this is a living god; so worship him." Daniel said, "I worship the living God. But give me permission, O king, and I will kill the dragon without sword or club." The king said, "I give you permission." Then Daniel took pitch, fat, and hair, and boiled them together and made cakes, which he fed to the dragon. The dragon ate them, and burst open. Then Daniel said, "See what you have been worshipping!"
Image

Re: Sola Busca XXI: Globe with Dragon

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Another error or blind !?

If we consider on the other hand that the stars are not accidental but fully intended, then a possible explanation is that it represents the constellation draco that coils around the plane of the ecliptic; if we consider the horizontal line as indicating the horizon, we may note that according to Aratus the head of the dragon ‘brushes the horizon’; but as Hipparchus corrected Aratus (from the view point of Athens) “only the left temple is on the ever visible circle.”


There is also something almost dragonlike about the crown on his table don't you think, or am I being too 'imaginative'? I looked at it and wondered 'what sort of creature is that meant to be' before I realised it was a crownded helmet... duh 8-}

SteveM

Aratus Phaenomena p.60-62 note 17.

Hipparchus In Arati et Eudoxi Phaenomena 1.4.8 note 14.

Quoted in The History of Cartography edited by John Brian Harley and David Woodward, p.165

Re: Sola Busca XXI: Globe with Dragon

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Interesting thought. But what could it mean in the context of the series?

Image

Hevelius, Firmamentum, 1690

Note that the head of Draco does go around the north pole of the ecliptic. Nebuchadnezzar's baton can be interpreted as pointing to Polaris, or the north celelstial pole, on the circle circumscribed by precession (the tip of the tail of ursa minor in this picture).

I have no problem attributing immense erudition to the maker of the Sola Busca, but I have no interpretations of this to offer.
Image

Re: Sola Busca XXI: Globe with Dragon

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Jeremiah 51:34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath set me down as an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his maw with my delicacies; he hath washed me clean.

Jeremiah 51:34 comedit me devoravit me Nabuchodonosor rex Babylonis reddidit me quasi vas inane absorbuit me sicut draco replevit ventrem suum teneritudine mea et eiecit me

Re: Sola Busca XXI: Globe with Dragon

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Thank you all for your comments and ideas. The image of the dragon constellation seems very convincing! It is difficult indeed to understand the meaning of this card.
I found this painting by Raphael:
Joseph is telling his dreams, which are represented by the two spheres floating in the air. The book where I found the image says that the spheres were the conventional way to represent dreams. I would like to find older examples of this kind.

So, the King is dreaming about a dragon...possibly the dragon constellation. Very strange, since there is no Dragon in the most famous dream of Nabuchodenazar.....
Could this be a synthesis of the Jeremiah passage quoted by Steve and the "statue" dream told in the Book of Daniel?

Marco