An Unusual Depiction of a Vulva in a Medical Illustration in London, Wellcome Library, Western MS 49

An unusual image in the gynecological section of London, Wellcome Library, Western MS 49 (the Wellcome Apocalypse) shows two women discussing gynecological problems, one fully dressed, who may be a midwife, and one naked, on whose belly is a large, mandorla-shaped mark. This iconographic topos appears to be unique in medieval European medical illustrations. There have been various attempts to explain the meaning of the mark, namely that is a caesarian section, or "an unaccountable abdominal incision, perhaps indicating pregnancy," or the woman's uterus. To date there is no consensus about its meaning. I argue that the Latin text to the right of the image (which has not previously been translated) provides a context for the conversation between the two women that, taken together with other images in the obstetric and gynecological section of Wellcome 49 and in late medieval culture more generally, strongly indicates that the mandorla-shaped mark is meant to represent a vulva, and that its function, as when the image of Christ's wound as vulva/vulnus was depicted on medieval birthing girdles, was talismanic: to aid in conception and to prevent miscarriage.