cordiform (13. 079)

Via {feuilleton} we are directed to an analysis of the origin of the inverted pear-shaped symbol representing the heart (see previously) ahead of Valentine’s Day through a catalogue of heart-shaped books from the fifteenth century, like the small bound volume held by St Catherine of Alexandria seating with St Jerome (replete with their respective visual attributes) in this anonymous painting from Bruges or Brussels. Such an elaborate manuscript was probably a secular songbook featuring verses on courtly love, the now familiar iconography and association of the organ as the seat of romance cemented in popular culture by the early Renaissance in part by its appearance on playing cards. Though there’s no definitive answer for the origin of ❤️—some speculate it may be inspired by other anatomical features, like breasts or the buttocks that have more to do with carnal thoughts whilst others suppose it might drawn from the shape of ivy leaves long associated with fidelity or to the seeds of silphium—the now extinct herb being both an aphrodisiac and a form of contraception—with others arguing that the iconic heart is not that far-removed from the beating organ with the fovea, the dip at the top between the auricles being the chief feature transmitted through the circles of early medicine, regarding as the most vital because of its pulsating.