Graphic representation of the textile motif the flowered bird.
Galliform symbols and birds in the history of Sardinian textiles
According to Jung, the bird is a symbol of conscious thought and the ideal. In today's Western culture, it is a rescuer and messenger.
Every bird throughout history has represented a spiritual and magical symbolic meaning.
The bond between man and birds is very deep and linked to our soul.
Birds are animals that existed before human beings, and we have always been fascinated by these beings for their ability to fly, seen as something divine in many cultures.
In the creative world of figurative art and textile art, they represent the main subjects of the works and have always been a source of study and inspiration for artists, scholars, and birdwatchers around the world. In ancient civilizations, they represented deities and messages.
Having survived the Triassic period alongside reptiles, many of them have over time assumed a well-defined spiritual and symbolic significance, depending on the culture or artistic movement in which they were placed.
As much as they may be taken for granted as animals, it is not so in art.
Through their graphic and chromatic representation, a feeling or emotion can be conveyed, a foreboding, whether bad or good, a warning.
The most recurring iconographies in Sardinia, which accompany the composition of many textile artworks, include certain species: eagles, griffins, peacocks, and peahens.
The eagle is the most recurring, the most majestic bird that embodies cosmic power. It is often called the “queen of the air” both for its large size and for its strength and elegance. It soars in the sky, upwards, to heights impossible for man, which is why it is the symbol of any ascending movement, from earth to sky, therefore from the material world to the spiritual one, from death to life.
In many depictions, it is associated with the serpent, which is its complementary opposite since it crawls. In the earthly world, it is also associated with the lion for strength and courage.
Also considered a solar bird, in Christianity it is attributed the symbol of the evangelist John and of Christ, because in medieval bestiaries such as the Physiologus it is called “the firebird” for its ability to withstand the sight of the sun's rays.
A symbol of boldness for ancient peoples such as the Assyrians and Babylonians, and for the ancient Romans up to the modern and contemporary era.
In Greek mythology, it is the favorite animal of Zeus, who in mythological tradition is represented sitting on a throne with an eagle with outstretched wings by his side.
In India, the sacred eagle is Garuda: ridden by Vishnu, it illustrates the victory of good over evil.
In Iranian culture, it is the mystical force of the hvarenò that descends from above to bless the worthy.
For the ancient Egyptians, as indicated by the hieroglyphs, the eagle represented immortality for the Ba, the worthy humans who could live in the afterlife.
Often in textile artifacts in Sardinia, the eagle is also replaced by a certain type of vulture, the Griffin.
In the past, it was widespread throughout the island; today, only 130 individuals actually exist, but for many artists and many “tessingianas,” it has represented the symbol of custody and vigilance. The Italian Guardia di Finanza also uses it as its emblem, since ancient legend tells that griffins lived at the edge of the known world, where they guarded the gold hidden in the mountain mines.
The mythological griffin, that of the Christian bestiary, is a monster composed of half eagle and half lion.
The griffin as a heraldic figure symbolizes perfection and power. If represented with leonine front legs, it is distinguished as Opinicus.
In the mythological griffin, one notices the Western human dualism that often also recalls Taoist culture, that is, it indicates the allegory of the human condition: man made of body and spirit, of flesh and soul that are continuously in conflict.
Dante in the Purgatorio uses it to pull the chariot of the clergy.
In Sardinian rugs and tapestries, the peahen is also very frequent, used since the Byzantines conquered the island during the era of the Judicates.
Peacocks, hens, and peahens are the most represented symbolic elements in Sardinia, both in ceramic works, textile works, woodworking, goldsmithing, and jewelry.
The symbols are celestial splendor and eternal life. Sometimes, like the phoenix, also resurrection and immortality.
In ancient Tibetan culture, it indicates luck and prosperity.
In antiquity, the peacock was raised in temples because only Kings and Emperors could own one of its feathers.
The spiritual task of the peacock was to accompany the empresses and their souls into the afterlife, hence it is attributed the symbol of a psychopomp.
It was linked to the transmigration of souls, to renewal, to transmutation, to alchemy towards the new dimension, to the tree of life, which gave the power of renewal.
Saint Augustine argued that its flesh was incorruptible, since the peacock could eat poisonous snakes and some inedible plants without being poisoned.
For Egypt, the peacock's tail was the sacred sky, which represented the celestial vault, due to the “eyes” in the wheel-shaped tail plumage, also similar to the symbolism of the Arabian Phoenix, which rose from its ashes.
The sacrifices that were made by offering a peacock to the sky were to invoke and honor the rain.
It was the sacred bird of Juno, the goddess of fertility and lunar cycles, she who accompanied souls into the afterlife.
The Goddess Juno always possessed a peacock to manifest herself among men, and every time the color of the plumage changed, it was a sign of renewal and novelty.
This refers to a mystical and cultic feminine dimension, especially in Sardinia:
hens, peacocks, and peahens are feminine symbols, and one can think of the English phonetic assonance Peacock (peacock in English), piricoccu (fruit that resembles the vulva), coccu (Sardinian good-luck talisman), and cocca (hen in Sardinian), which together refer to the feminine imagination, the mother hen, and protection-
- could it be a primordial coincidence?
It is not yet known - but the galliform figures present in the artistic repertoire in Sardinia are strong symbols linked to the “primordial cosmic womb,” that which gives rise to the egg. That which in the ancestral dimension of the primary creation, procreated by itself.
Peacocks and peahens refer to that androgynous figure that had both male and female creative power.
In a certain way, birds, hens, and peacocks have been introduced into SRDN graphics to recall the primordial creative force, beauty, and good luck. The myth of the Mother Goddess, of protection, of creation, of femininity, and the good luck of beauty.
Birds, peacocks, peahens, cocca, peacock, hens, whose root in English is said “hen,” in the sacred Hebrew archetypes, mean “life.”
So every Sardinian who takes up the imagery of the peahen (and similar) is actually recalling eternity, representing a vital archetype that is also the island's identity symbol.
With SRDN, we have elaborated and illustrated several of them in a modern, minimalist key, in the form of patterns, printed on illustrations and clothing and accessories, or following the classic line, woven into home furnishings.
Discover the SRDN graphics inspired by peahens and choose your favorite: