A blog of Chinese art, culture and design

For years, we’ve been speaking with clients about the presence of the swastika on the 18^th and 19^th c. Chinese furniture and paintings in our collection.  Clients are often upset by the symbol, which calls forth the atrocities committed in WWII.    The Asian swastika has always been a symbol of all things good—peace, compassion, luck, success and happiness.  It has never been clearly documented as to why the Nazis used the swastika as the symbol for their hateful ideology.   Many historians believe the Nazis wanted to capitalize on this globally known image, which embodies so many good qualities in order to portray and promote a new political party.     

Germany was just a tribal land when the swastika emerged in India’s material culture 3,000 years ago.  The swastika is derived from the Sanskrit word: “svastikah”, which means ‘being fortunate’.  About 2,500 years ago, when Sakyamuni brought Buddhism to China from India, the Chinese adopted this significant image.  Today this ancient symbol of prosperity can still be found in India, Tibet and China on tombs, cave paintings, ceramics, bronzes and furniture.

In India, both clockwise and counterclockwise swastikas were used, with different meanings: the counterclockwise swastika is associated with the goddess Kali-Maya, the mother of Buddha, and the clockwise swastika is associated with Ganesha, the elephant-headed father of Buddha. In Chinese Buddhism the clockwise direction symbolizes future success and happiness and many Buddhist rituals, like circumambulation, follow this direction. 

Like the lotus, the wheel and the tiger, the swastika is ever present in Tibetan furniture, usually symbolizing earth and its indestructible durability. Its presence in Tibetan art brings blessings of stability and peace and acts as a reminder for its owner to strive for contentment. 

What does this all mean to the art historian and the collector? Simple details such as the direction of the spinning swastika help connoisseurs locate the origin of an object’s creation, and the type of blessing and role the object played in material culture.  The direction of the swastika and its subtle integration into an object are identifying Asian features.  In objects and furniture created by the Nazis, the swastika is commonly branded in a predominate location. After the mid-20^th century, the Buddhist swastika (outside of India) is universally left facing due to the association of the right-facing swastika with Nazism. 

The Chinese culture embraces an even broader meaning for the symbol than the Buddhist religion. For example, in China, the swastika is also the symbol for Wan, which means “ten thousand,” an auspicious number in Chinese classical culture. Based on this symbol, the hall of “Peace and Harmony in Ten Thousand Directions” was designed and built in the shape of the swastika at the Imperial Summer Palace in Beijing.  Furthermore, today there is an organized movement in China to take back the positive connotation of the symbol.

Though the Nazis bastardized it’s meaning during WWII, the swastika is still a symbol of hope, luck, and prosperity to millions of people today.   With education and awareness, people in the West will hopefully let it reclaim its true meaning.