Monday, August 18, 2003

Astronomical Surface Decoration - China, part V Continuing (to search the Internet, a couple of books, tips from a friend, and help from my wife for) our look into accurately protrayed (or just about any representation of) celestial bodies (or something similar) used as decoration on ceramics (holding less firm on that bit this today too.) I spent lunch looking at hundreds of images of Chinese pottery in several books, to no avail... However, a tip from Rob Johnson leads me to the Chinese cong form: The Cong is "an archaic form of vessel used initially for ritual purposes. In the Chinese culture, the earth is considered as square and heaven round. The cong is symbolic of heaven and earth as it has a round mouth and square body." Koh-antiques.com While not quite what I was thinking, it is plainly further then I've gotten so far with my research. It is not as if the Chinese didn't do star maps. They did some of the earliest and they are quite beautiful. They also did star/sun shaped designs on their pottery. (Thx Maura) Dick Teresi writes in his book Lost Discoveries: "The ancients wrote stars-laden texts in many forms - on wine jugs, tortoise shells, and silk. The earliest records from archaeological sites in Qinghai Province consist of ceramic fragments on which are painted images of rayed sun disks and moon crescents." (Thx Yahoo transhumanist.) As Dave says..."still digging..." 10:26:03 PM