Riddle on sleep; plan and elevation of a building
A riddle answered by 'sleep', with a floor-plan and a domed building in elevation
Three lines of mirror-writing at the head pose a riddle: what is much desired by men yet cannot be perceived once possessed? The answer given is sleep. Below, Leonardo sketches the plan of a building as a grid of rooms, and beneath it the elevation of a symmetrical arcaded building crowned by a dome, set on a stepped platform. The two architectural drawings carry no transcribed text.
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Plan and elevation of a domed building
The upper drawing lays out a building in plan as a grid of rectangular rooms. Below it stands the elevation of a low, arcaded structure with round-headed openings, a central portal, and a ribbed dome on a drum, the whole raised on a wide stepped base.
Riddle whose answer is sleep
Leonardo poses a riddle: what is the thing much desired by men that, once possessed, cannot be perceived? He answers that it is sleep.