VMs illustrations can often be a bit ambiguous. It's not a pangolin. The scales are backwards.
The reason it is not a pangolin is because of the parts of the illustration directly below the 'critter'. The undulating line has crests and troughs that are bulbous. By heraldic definition, this is a nebuly line. "Nebuly" derived from Latin 'nebula' for 'cloud'. Nebuly lines and their more elaborate variations function in medieval art as cosmic boundaries (wolkenbands) and as representations of the element of air.
A pangolin has no use for a cosmic boundary. The critter is a representation of the Agnus Dei. Furthermore, the markings below the nebuly line are representative of droplets of blood. The structural representation of the three parts is similar to the historical illustration of f 18 of BNF Fr. 13096. The critter is on one side of the boundary and the droplets are on the other side. So far, this placement is unusual. Other representations tend to keep lamb and blood on the same side of the cosmic boundary.
The VMs artist also used a nebuly line as a cosmic boundary in the VMs cosmos, indicating that the artist was familiar with the proper interpretation of this artistic technique.
The reason it is not a pangolin is because of the parts of the illustration directly below the 'critter'. The undulating line has crests and troughs that are bulbous. By heraldic definition, this is a nebuly line. "Nebuly" derived from Latin 'nebula' for 'cloud'. Nebuly lines and their more elaborate variations function in medieval art as cosmic boundaries (wolkenbands) and as representations of the element of air.
A pangolin has no use for a cosmic boundary. The critter is a representation of the Agnus Dei. Furthermore, the markings below the nebuly line are representative of droplets of blood. The structural representation of the three parts is similar to the historical illustration of f 18 of BNF Fr. 13096. The critter is on one side of the boundary and the droplets are on the other side. So far, this placement is unusual. Other representations tend to keep lamb and blood on the same side of the cosmic boundary.
The VMs artist also used a nebuly line as a cosmic boundary in the VMs cosmos, indicating that the artist was familiar with the proper interpretation of this artistic technique.