Description
A hen with her chicks on a tiled floor and a gold background. No constellation by the name Gallina or the hen with her chicks exists. However, to the Vikings, the Pleiades were Freyja's hens, and their name in many old European languages such as Hungarian the old name of the star cluster is "Fiastyúk", meaning 'a hen with chicks'. In contemporary Danish, the cluster is known as Syvstjernen, "the Seven Star". (the Pleiades in folklore and literature - Wikipedia)
Additional Information
From a series of 36 constellations after Michael Scotus in the Heidelberger Schicksalsbuch. The Heidelberger Schicksalsbuch (Heidelberg Book of Fate) consists of two volumes: Cod. Pal. germ. 831 (today: Cod. Pal. germ. 298) and Cod. Pal. germ. 832.
Further information on the books: Numerous rotae, diagrams, and tables. In the margin of the plates, frequent reference to the explanatory texts (e.g.: Canon 15 a). Two full-page astrological-astronomical rotations in opaque color painting on a gold ground by Berthold Furtmeyr, the 542 further, mostly framed miniatures in opaque color painting, partly on a gold ground, are by Thomas Schilt; on the illumination see Zimmermann, Das Heidelberger Schicksalsbuch. The manuscript was no longer bound after the partial facsimile in 1981. The former binding is kept separately: brown calf leather binding over wood on six frets (four of which are double frets) with individual stamps (coats of arms) and strike-iron lines in gold for Pope Alexander VII. (Fabio Chigi; officiated 1655-1667). Round signature plate, modern: Pal. Germ. 832. On the back cover is an astrolabe, a device for measuring angles in the sky, with movable discs and hands.
Further information to provenance: The large format and the other upscale features make it likely that the codex was made for a wealthy client, probably from noble circles. There are indications that the manuscript was written for Elector Philip the Sincere of the Palatinate and his wife, Margarethe of Bavaria-Landshut. This is supported by the coats of arms of the Palatinate and Bavaria in the spandrels of the two rotations (16r, 103r). In terms of content, the text of the manuscript is a compilation of various astrological-astronomical prints that originate from the Augsburg workshop of Erhard Ratdolt. Among them, the latest is the edition (GW n0376) of the so-called "German Hyginus", an astronomical-mythological manual, published in 1491. The miniatures are also directly dependent on the woodcut illustrations of Ratdolt's incunabula. From the fact that the lunar plates of the calendar also begin in 1491, it can be concluded that the manuscript was created in that year or shortly thereafter. Listed in the inventory of the Church of the Holy Spirit when it was cataloged in 1581: Vatican BAV Pal. lat. 1939, 83r [MathematiciJ: Calender/ Finsternuß/ Geomantia etc. geschrieben perment, in fol bretter weiß leder schloß, schon illuminirt (identically Pal. lat. 1938, 72v). (https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/miller2016/0586/image; translated by Danica Brenner)