19-09-2024, 05:59 PM
I have a nice description about a picture here.
A special challenge are those images whose meaning cannot be guessed without additional background knowledge. These include depictions of animals that occur relatively frequently. They can, for example, stand for the constellations still in use today or have a Christian meaning that has almost been forgotten. Ancient written sources help us to decode the images, such as the book Physiologus, which was written in Egypt in the 2nd century AD. In it we can read what symbolic meanings the animals once had. Over the centuries, this merged with the stories of the Bible, resulting in a completely new symbolic meaning. This gave the tile maker the opportunity to depict familiar stories in a different form, in code, so to speak. For example, Jesus also appeared on tile pictures as a unicorn because, according to medieval tradition, this creature can only be captured by a virgin. This in turn stands for Jesus' mother Mary. The images, which at first glance appear enigmatic, can thus be deciphered. The image of the unicorn and the virgin is therefore also a portrait of Jesus and Mary.
In this way, the tiled stove always contributed to the entertainment of the viewer, as the depictions were usually more complex than we might think at first glance today.
A special challenge are those images whose meaning cannot be guessed without additional background knowledge. These include depictions of animals that occur relatively frequently. They can, for example, stand for the constellations still in use today or have a Christian meaning that has almost been forgotten. Ancient written sources help us to decode the images, such as the book Physiologus, which was written in Egypt in the 2nd century AD. In it we can read what symbolic meanings the animals once had. Over the centuries, this merged with the stories of the Bible, resulting in a completely new symbolic meaning. This gave the tile maker the opportunity to depict familiar stories in a different form, in code, so to speak. For example, Jesus also appeared on tile pictures as a unicorn because, according to medieval tradition, this creature can only be captured by a virgin. This in turn stands for Jesus' mother Mary. The images, which at first glance appear enigmatic, can thus be deciphered. The image of the unicorn and the virgin is therefore also a portrait of Jesus and Mary.
In this way, the tiled stove always contributed to the entertainment of the viewer, as the depictions were usually more complex than we might think at first glance today.