Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Two Shields


There's a poky fellow who's been wandering back and forth across my back yard for weeks, and the fact that he's decided to hang around has given me great pleasure. I took this photograph, and when I researched his beautiful design, I discovered that he is an Ornate Box Turtle. His proper name is Terrapene Ornata.


His design rattled around in my head because I remembered seeing the pattern somewhere else. It reminds me of this antique shield from New Hebrides.





Now I wonder if they have turtles on Vanuatu, and wouldn't it be interesting if there was a connection?

6 comments:

  1. Yes they do! When I was younger we used to go to Vanuatu quite often and yes there were turtles

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  2. Thanks, David! The more I study the lower shield, the more certain I am that the pattern is an arrangement of shells on wood. Perhaps that means one type of shield was used on another to depict a third.

    I was thinking after I posted this that it would be fun to find similar patterns in nature. It's so distinctive!

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  3. Turtles are just the most fascinating animals, those shells!! You can see how they've inspired artists for centuries and longer!

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  4. Stefan, I've always been intrigued by these shells. There are interesting things happening in that particular pattern that suggest splits and multiplications - I see a primary cross going down my guest's back, then I notice divisions that remind me of Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome. I think Fuller was looking at a lot of patterns in nature.

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  5. I have a thing for turtles-I them as my personal marker. This one's patterns are very reminiscent of the shield.

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