Symbols & ornaments

葫芦摆件

Gourds as symbolic objects

The familiar gourd form carries inscriptions, diagrams and carved imagery.

LOOKING CLOSER

A form, a story,
a way of seeing.

The gourd is a recurring image in Chinese religious and decorative culture. Its enclosing form lends itself to objects associated with keeping, carrying and symbolic protection.

These are two different interpretations. One displays expansive writing on a light surface; the other brings a trigram diagram and animal imagery into a darker sculptural form. The meanings belong to cultural symbolism and devotional intention.

Details to notice

  • Compare a written surface with a carved one.
  • Look for the eight-trigram motif on the darker object.

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