Solar and Lunar Pottery Symbols

Ancient Observatory Museum, Beijing

The symbols on these neolithic pots are symbols of the sun (upper photo) and moon (lower photo) respectively. The solar design seems pretty straightforward, but the lunar design is complex; lunar crescents in the positive space (black) define a lunar disk in the negative space, as tendrils connect each repetition of the design to a transitional border that might (speculatively) represent the moon's extreme waxing and waning phases. Taking this speculation even further, it might even be possible to see in such a design the hypothetical origins of the Daoist taiji symbol, where yin and yang endlessly transform into each other.