Lunar Year and the Art of Chinese Cosmology

Clara Cho Wun Ma is the Jane Chace Carroll Associate Curator of Asian Art

At the end of January 2025, billions of people across the world, from China to Vietnam to
diaspora communities in the U.S., celebrate the Lunar New Year, the beginning of a new year on
the lunisolar calendar. How do people use this calendar to measure time? And in Chinese art,
how does artwork tell us about Chinese perception of the movement of the universe?

Since antiquity, Chinese have used lunar conjunctions to compute time. Each year is symbolized by a zodiac sign according to a rotating cycle of twelve animals: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Collectively, the twelve zodiac animals are known as the twelve “earthly branches” (dizhi). The twelve earthly branches and ten heavenly branches (tiangan) together form a system for Chinese to name the day, the month, the year, as well as music notes. 

The twelve zodiac animals have been popular decorative motifs in Chinese art across various media. A bronze mirror that illustrates the twelve zodiac animals with other symbols of cosmos is currently on display at the Smith College Museum of Art. The circular mirror was made in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Its back features low-relief designs evenly distributed into five concentric rings, reflecting essential ideals of Chinese cosmology. Around the central knob, there are four directional animals, Green Dragon of the East, White Tiger of the West, Red Bird of the South, and Dark Warrior of the North. The second ring has twelve zodiac animals standing in clockwise sequence, separated by floral scrolls.

Outside the zodiac band, the design includes a band of Eight Trigrams, broken horizontal lines whose combination symbolizes the phenomenal reality of the world, and a band of star constellation diagrams. Furthermore, a long inscription around the rim explains the harmony of nature, which is based on the harmonious and continuous cooperation of heaven, earth, and man in the universe. 

Searching for order in the universe is one of the essential practices shared across cultures. To learn more about the depiction of these Chinese zodiac animals, you can now find this bronze mirror in the Carol T. Christ Asian Art Gallery.