Monday, September 8, 2003

Astronomical Surface Decoration on Ceramics ... China/Japan At the National Palace Musuem, Taipei, there is something called a "Celestial globe vase". It is from China, during the Yung-lo reign (1403-24.) The vase features a dragon. Working a bit backwards, we find that there is a dragon consellation in the chinese zodiac that is the same (similar?) to the modern western consellation Draco. (This was an important constellation in the past, as it featured the pole star.) If we look side by side at the star's positions in the constellation and design in the vase, we can note possible similarites in their elements.  On both: The body goes away from the head and then back up.  The head/mane is elongated both front and back. The tail ends downward from the head (just a guess on the vase) It may be that the similarites noted are coincidents.  It may be the result of creating a good looking dragon, in some jungian sense, whether one is painting on ceramic, or associating stars in the sky.  It may be that the dragon on the vase is based on some Chinese dragon cannon, and thus not directly referencing star positions.  It may be that this vase also represents positions of stars. 1:34:40 PM