30 
The SIGNS of the ZODIAC 
in DECORATION 
House & Garden 
These Symbols That the Ancients 
and the Renaissance Artists 
Used Might Well Be 
Applied Today 
J. M. McCREA 
S YMBOLISM is decoration and decoration 
is symbolism. 
Nearly every decorative motif we employ 
had its origin as a symbol, we shall find, if 
we choose to pursue a careful investigation. 
The symbolism may have been generally for¬ 
gotten or obscured, perhaps, through the evolu¬ 
tionary stages of conventionalization, but it is 
there all the same. Conversely, symbols, 
whether they have been subjected to conven¬ 
tional treatment or not, almost always afford 
appropriate motifs for purposes of decoration. 
In the latter important class belong the signs 
of the zodiac. 
From time to time they have been employed 
in decoration with notably good effect, but for 
some inexplicable cause their use in modem 
times has never been at all commensurate with 
their own intrinsic interest or with the possi¬ 
bilities they contain. They are susceptible of 
a great variety of treatments and a wide di¬ 
versity of suitable applications, a few of which 
will here be pointed out. Others will doubt¬ 
less suggest themselves when once we begin 
to realize what a valuable and adaptable re¬ 
source is here disclosed. 
“The Little Animals” 
From remote antiquity the heavenly zones 
and the paths of the constellations through the 
sky have been in¬ 
dicated by sym¬ 
bolic figures. Each 
of the twelve di¬ 
visions of the great 
cycle or procession 
of the constellations 
was symbolized by 
a recognized pic¬ 
torial figure which 
also had its own 
proper correspond¬ 
ing conventional¬ 
ized mark or hiero¬ 
glyphic sign for ab¬ 
breviation. Many 
of these symbolic 
figures were ani¬ 
mals, hence the 
name for the zodi¬ 
acal cycle from the 
Greek word “zo- 
dion,” meaning a 
little animal. 
Beginning with 
the spring equinox, 
the order of the 
zodiacal figures is 
as follows:—Aries, 
the Ram; Taurus, 
the Bull; Gemini, 
the Twins; Cancer, 
the Crab; Leo, the 
Lion; Virgo, the 
Virgin; Libra, the 
Balance or Scales; 
Scorpio, the Scorpion; Sagittarius, the Bow¬ 
man; Capricornus, the Goat; Aquarius, the 
Water-carrier; and Pisces, the Fishes. 
It is not necessary, for our purpose, to at¬ 
tempt to penetrate the thick mists of Chaldean, 
Chinese or Greek antiquity for the origins of 
these symbols or to note the variations that 
have occurred in the several systems. The 
The Romans used the zodiac signs for 
decoration in medallions such as this 
twelve signs given are those accepted in our 
astronomical system of nomenclature and their 
interpretation covers an ample field of deco¬ 
rative interest. What latitude of representation 
is possible in each of the twelve items it is 
scarcely necessary to point out. Rather is it 
timely to indicate how, when and where these 
symbols may be turned to good decorative 
account. 
The even number of the signs of the zodiac 
makes it especially convenient to marshal them 
in symmetrical arrangements—as twelve equal 
units, or in groups of three, four, six, or two, 
just as the exigencies of space and the char¬ 
acter of the surrounding design seem to dictate. 
Zodiacal decorative symbolism is equally ap¬ 
propriate for use both outside and indoors. 
Nothing could be more suitable than the 
zodiac figures in connection with fountains, 
sun-dials, garden houses, arbors, pergolas, or 
sculptured groups for walk terminals. Any 
one individual or all of the familiar zodiac 
troupe may be presented on flat surfaces, in 
relief or in the ground, and through any con¬ 
ceivable medium of material wherein other 
decorations may be wrought. Likewise they 
may be shown in any gradation of size. Even 
the hieroglyphic signs that often stand proxy 
for the larger figures, or accompany them, more 
or less as “attributes” or identification tags, 
may be used in¬ 
stead of the full 
representation with 
happy result where 
extreme simplicity 
and a measure of 
conventionalization 
are required. 
Using the Signs 
as Tiles 
One good thing 
to remember is that 
both the regular 
signs and their lit- 
tle attendant 
proxies are of such 
simple, vigorous 
and unmistakable 
outline that any of 
them may be treated 
either with great 
elaboration of de¬ 
tail or with the 
utmost simplicity. 
They would be 
clearly recognizable 
even in thoroughly 
conventionalized 
silhouette. In this 
latter form zodiac 
signs may very well 
be introduced in 
decorative floor 
treatment, especial¬ 
ly in paved stone 
Zodiac signs are inbedded in the floor of the sun dial in the garden of Charles F. Jenkins , Esq., at Ger¬ 
mantown, Pa. The individual tiles, designed by Henry Chapman Mercer, are shown at the top of the pages 
