COLORS IN ART AND SYMBOLISM. When a connoisseur examines an Oriental rug he takes into consideration the symbolic intent of the color scheme as well as of the motifs depicted. He remembers that, to the Moham medan, green is a sacred color and must not be trodden on. Collectors of Chinese ceramics in examining examples claimed to belong to a certain. reign in the Ch'ing Dynasty have to bear in mind that yellow was for some time in that Dynasty an Imperial color and its use strictly forbidden except for the Imperial court. Hence any other than the finest art work appearing on such a piece of porcelain containing yellow in its decorative composition proves it to have belonged to some other pe riod. But while symbolism generally origi nated in the East its antiquity in and among the European peoples dates very far back. And the arts, both profane and ecclesiastical, have used colors with symbolical intent almost uni versally, White.— As symbol of innocence and purity white has been adopted over a large portion of the globe even during prehistoric days. In pagan times we find it as symbol also of light, and the Druids in white robes sacrificed white oxen to the sun; the head of Osiris of the Egyptians wore a white tiara. The Romans dedicated white to Jupiter (god of light), and on the first day of January the consul, robed in white and mounted on a white horse, rode up to the Capitol to celebrate the triumph of Jupi ter over the spirits of evil; the priests of Jupi ter wore white vestments and the victims sac rificed to that god were white. The Greek priests sang sacred chants in white robes. In antiquity white was dedicated to the dead and was sign of mourning, and this remains so to this day with the Persians, Chinese and Indian Mohammedans. In old biblical lore white vest ments were syrnbolical of the soul's regenera tion and a recompense of the elected. Early Christian artists depicted God the Father draped in white and Jesus was pictured in white robes after the Resurrection. The dead were swathed in white and Pythagoras called the practice a happy presage of immortality.
Aaron, the Jewish high priest, was commanded to wear a white garb in the sanctuary. In Christian art, white being considered emblem of innocence and purity, lilies are found in pictures of the Immaculate Conception; it was for the same reason that some monks and nuns of the Christian Church wore white robes. The Magi were robed in white. In Christian iconography white is represented by the dia mond or by silver as emblems of light, inno cence, virginity, faith, joy and love. But white roses opposed to red ones signified death, rest, killing of inordinate desires.
Black.— In pagan antiquity black repre sented the underworld. Black, as ((the nega tion of colors') is symbolic of death, darlaiess and evil, also of falsehood and error, sorrow and vice. The illuminators of the Middle Ages represented Christ draped in black while wrestling with the Spirit of Evil, and in the 12th century, in Byzantine art, the Virgin Mary often has a black complexion symbolic of woe. Black for mourning and mortiaary color is a very ancient tradition. Georgius writes: °Black is the third of the four sacred or canon ical colors, and is used by the Roman Church (and formerly by the Eastern Church too) on penitential days.P Black has also been consid ered as signifying counsel and antiquity, but in heraldry it is symbolic of prudence, wisdom and constancy in adversity and love. White and black in combination signify in Christian art purity of life and mourning or humiliation, as adopted by the Dominican and Carmelite orders. Black and yellow in combination were symbolical of the devil and his hosts. To the Moors black designates grief, obscurity and constancy.
Violet.—The Roman Catholic Church con sidered violet and black so closely allied as to use them indiscriminately for one another on days of mourning and fasting. Violet cloth ing was worn by cardinals and old women and was an ack-nowiedgrnent of old age.