Welcome to Arts in Travel
Sun, Moon, and Five Peaks screen painting featured on the home page
In this exquisite Korean screen painting with its bold colors, the simple, massive forms of the sun, moon, and five peaks are ancient icons that symbolize kingship, yin and yang, and the four cardinal directions. As a non-academic researcher of symbols, I am fascinated by ancient and contemporary patterns that convey a meaning. When I began collecting my pieces, I would ask the artisan if he or she knew what the motifs meant or considered them just decorative. Often, artisans would tell me what the designs represented to their family, ancestors, or the culture in general. Whether or not that information was accurate, I couldn’t say for sure, but it did pique my interest in symbology.
As I traveled and collected, I began to see certain identical patterns on art forms like paintings, temples, and textiles in different cultures that were thousands of miles apart. Were the motifs appropriated from other cultures due to trade? Did they have different meanings? In Chinese visual arts, the image of the sun and the moon also refers to kingship and yin and yang. Through trade, these early Chinese themes did influence visual art in Korea at a certain period in its history.
Examining motifs in my own textiles, I found many similarities between Bhutanese symbols and Indian trade cloth motifs. Ancient trade routes between Tibet, Bhutan, Bengal, and Assam during the 17th to 19th centuries confirm that brocaded cloth in green, red, and yellow silk was traded with Tibet and with Calcutta, Bengal, India. We know that the spice trade brought Indian textiles and motifs from Gujarat into Indonesia, which became known as trade cloth, a prestigious commodity that commanded respect. Is it possible that symbols used in textiles in Gujarat, India, may have traveled along these trade routes and been incorporated into weavings in Bhutan?
I am fascinated by patterns that connect, and I’m certain this will lead to more journeys with a quest.
