Design and Tradition / A short account of the principles and historic development of architecture and the applied arts

by Amor Fenn

Secular Symbols

Besides those enumerated, emblems are used for the arts, sciences, and crafts, and as devices for Guilds and Corporations.

The arts of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture are symbolised by the various implements employed, as are the crafts. Music by the Lyre and other instruments, Literature by the Lamp, Books, and the Owl as the Bird of Wisdom.

Science and mechanics are similarly indicated. Means of transit, by a winged wheel, suggestive of Speed and Progress; trade and commerce by bales of goods and by the Caduceus, and Agriculture by implements, sheaves of corn and fruit.