Am I the only one to find this earth being created under the compass out of chaos looking a lot like a Mandelbrot Set M ?
The image of God using a compass is famous (see for instance the much later William Blake) but this one is curious by the image of the world. It dates from the 13th century in a splendidly illustrated and fastuous kind of Bible digest and commentary called “a bible moralisée” made for royals of France.
found thanks to inillotempore.
Alas, I have no time to find proper images and an English version of Russian geological term that is roughly translated as “gem nest”. This is a cavity in a rock where, when rock was still hot and sat deep in the Earth’s crust under huge pressure, vapours crystallized into gemstones; the Earth being created by God in this picture looks surprisingly like a cut through such a “nest”. The internal surface of the “nest” is frequently fractal, for obvious reasons.
Such a “nest” was (and remains) a very convincing metaphor of Creation, and was very appropriate in Bible made for customers who were likely to know a thing or two about gems.
Alexander, I know the kind of object you are refering to. I was not able to locate a good image of it either, but I remember seeing examples in Paris at the Mineral Collection of Paris VI University. If you happen to find an illustration please post it here.
There is a April Fool’s Day page about a
precursor of Mandelbrot in the 13th century.