the three hares project

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The Three Hares Project

Chris Chapmanhttp://www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk/hares/page1.htm

The Three Hares Project was formed in 2000 by Sue Andrew, art historyresearcher, Chris Chapman, documentary photographer, and Tom Greeves,archaeologist and historian. It is a non-profit organisation whose aim is to recordand research all known occurrences of the three hares motif.

Individual research began in the late 1980s when Tom Greeves explored thedistribution of the symbol, with results published in Dartmoor Magazine (Winter 1991). Tom's work showed that the distribution within Devon extended wellbeyond Dartmoor, and he drew attention to the occurrence of the design oncontinental Europe and in Buddhist cave temples near Dunhuang, China. In1999, Tom and Elisabeth Greeves carried out further exploration in France andGermany.

Sue Andrew's extensive research began in the mid-1990s. Her studies focusedon the motif in Islamic and Buddhist contexts and on the possible transmission of the design from east to west through the medium of textiles. Sue has establishedvaluable contacts with collectors, curators and scholars in relevant academicfields.

Chris Chapman's images are essential to the Project, for it is only through themedium of photography and through the skill of the photographer that the detailand craftsmanship of many of the more inaccessible examples of the hares canbe fully appreciated.

The Three Hares Project has now documented all known occurrences of themotif in Devon and the rest of Britain and has begun work on continental Europe.The Project team visited China in August 2004 to give presentations at academicconferences in Mogao and Beijing.

Sharing of knowledge is an important element in Three Hares Project research.The Project is always happy to receive details of sightings of the three hares andto learn of information relating to the design.



Contact

Sue Andrew [email protected] Tom Greeves [email protected] Chris Chapman [email protected] Telephone:

Tom Greeves + 44 (0)1822 617004Chris Chapman + 44 (0)1647 231508

Acknowledgements

The Three Hares Project is supported by Devon County Council, Dartmoor National Park Authority, The Devonshire Association and Videotel Productions.

Warm thanks are due to the many vicars, church wardens andcaretakers, museum curators and owners of private houses andcollections who have assisted us.Special thanks are due to the Classical Chinese Puzzle Project for its

unstinting support. All images and content: © Copyright The Three Hares Project/ChrisChapman 2008

The Three Hares in Devon, England

Medieval roof boss, Paignton, Devon.We know of seventeen parish churches in Devon which contain at least one roof boss depicting the three hares. The bosses are crafted to cover the intersectionof interior roof timbers. Twenty-nine bosses from Devon are known in total, of which nineteen are medieval and of wood. Broadclyst in East Devon has ninebut, with the possible exception of a painted example in the nave roof, which may

be medieval, the others are all copies of the early 19th century. Kelly has twobosses, but one is a modern copy. Chagford, Sampford Courtenay and Spreytoneach have two medieval examples.

The bosses are widely spread throughout the county, from Ashreigney in thenorth to Paignton in the south, and from Broadclyst in the east to Kelly in thewest. The north-eastern and eastern fringe of Dartmoor has a notableconcentration.

One of the two bosses in Spreyton church is dated by association with thechancel roof which was built in 1451.

The following points seem noteworthy:

y the designs show a great variety of style, implying that they were createdin different workshops.

y the bosses are given prominence within the churches, as on a central ribof the chancel roof, or on a central rib of the nave.

y several adjoin a boss depicting a Green Man.

Examples of the design also appear in Devon in post-medieval (16th /17th century) plaster ceilings in private houses. A beautiful modern representation is



to be found in stained glass in the Castle Inn, Lydford, crafted in 1974 by JamesPaterson.

The Three Hares in the Rest of Britain and Continental Europe

Stained glass, Long Melford, Suffolk.

An example of the three hares design in medieval stained glass has long beenknown from Holy Trinity Church, Long Melford, Suffolk.

Other important examples have been identified on medieval tiles. A floor tileexcavated from the nave of Chester Cathedral dates to c.1400 CE.

A medieval boss, carved in stone, is to be found in the Lady Chapel of St DavidsCathedral, in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and a wooden boss can be seen in the roof of the nave in Selby Abbey, Yorkshire. Wooden bosses are also found in thechurch of St. Hubert, Corfe Mullen, Dorset, and in the chapel of Cotehele,

Cornwall. The Cotehele boss can be dated to the late 1480's, when the chapelwas built.

In a secular context, a plaster ceiling with the design is located in Scarborough,Yorkshire.

On continental Europe, the three hares appear in a wide variety of medievalecclesiastical contexts in France, Germany and Switzerland. In eastern France, acluster is known from churches in Alsace and the Vosges. A very fine roof boss instone is situated in the chapter house of the church of Saints Peter and Paul inWissembourg. This dates to c.1300 CE. Another example of the hares, in stone,can be seen carved into an undersill in the chapel of the Hotel de Cluny in Paris.

In Germany, a well-known example is carved in stone in the cloister window of Paderborn Cathedral. One of the most important occurrences of the three haresmotif is on a bell given to the Cistercian Abbey of Kloster Haina in 1224 CE. Thisdate is reliably confirmed by the presence on the bell of the seal of ArchbishopSiegfried of Mainz.



Corfe Mullen, Dorset Cotehele, Cornwall

St.Davids, PembrokeshireSt.Davids, Pembrokeshire

Selby, Yorkshire Chester, Cheshire



Continental Europe

Wissembourg, France

Medieval roof boss, Wissembourg



Kloster Haina, Germany

Medieval bell, Kloster Haina, Bell detail,



The Transmission of the Three Hares from East to West

The map above shows sites associated with the three hares across Eurasia. Theeasternmost marker is Dunhuang in China and the clusters in Western Europeand in Britain can clearly be seen.

The three hares motif may have travelled from east to west along the Silk Roadand through the medium of textile. In the medieval period, precious silks from theOrient, many woven with gold thread, were used in western churches for wrapping holy relics, for vestments, as altar cloths, palls for shrines and as liningsin holy books. It is known that designs from these silks influenced medievalartists and church craftsmen. In Exeter Cathedral, the tomb of Bishop Walter Bronescombe, who died in 1280, is painted with a representation of an orientaltextile.

The capture of Constantinople by crusaders in 1204 also released a wealth of

oriental artistry into the West.

Whatever the mode of transmission, the journey of the three hares is remarkableindeed.



Buddhist, Islamic and Jewish Occurrences of the Three Hares

Iranian Tray.

The earliest known examples of the three hares motif are to be found painted onthe ceilings of Buddhist cave temples at Mogao, near Dunhuang, China. Datingfrom the Sui Dynasty (581-618 CE) through to the end of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE), the images are centrally placed on detailed representations of textilecanopies.

Dunhuang is situated at the western end of the Great Wall of China and was animportant trading post on the Silk Road (a term used to describe the ancientoverland trading routes linking east and west). The Silk Road was a major conduit for the exchange of goods and ideas for many hundreds of years.

It was during the time of the great Mongol Empire, which stretched from China inthe east to Hungary and Poland in the west, that cultural exchange along the SilkRoad was at its height. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the Mongols established apeace (Pax Mongolica) which ensured safe transit for traders, ambassadors,scholars and pilgrims. Administrators, soldiers and craftsmen, particularly silk

workers, were transported across the empire to the Mongol centres of power thuseffecting the dissemination of a great range of ideas and motifs.

A copper coin, minted in Urmiya, Iran, in 1281/1282 CE, bears the three hares onits reverse. The image is thought to reinforce the heavenly mandate of theMongol rulers.

A slightly earlier example of the motif is found on an Iranian brass tray , inlaid withcopper, dating from the late 12th or early 13th century.



An exquisite reliquary casket from Southern Russia, crafted during the period of Mongol rule in the late 13th or early 14th centuries, is now preserved in thecathedral treasury of Trier, Germany. The casket displays Islamic iconography onits base and originally featured two images of the three hares. One of these hasbeen lost through damage.

The three hares are also found in glass and ceramic wares from the Islamicworld.

In a Jewish context, the three hares appear on a ceiling panel, painted in theearly 18th century, from a German synagogue.

Casket, Trier, Germany



Casket baseplate, Trier

Baseplate detail, Trier



What Does the Symbol Mean?

Medieval roof bosses, Throwleigh, Devon.The three hares motif was clearly revered in all the different contexts in which it isfound, but, as yet, we have not come across a contemporary written record of itsmeaning. It may be expected that the motif would have had different meanings indifferent cultures but, as an archetype, perhaps there was an element of meaningcommon to all.

The hare is strongly represented in world mythology and from ancient times hashad divine associations. Its elusiveness and unusual behaviour, particularly atnig ht , have reinforced its reputation as a magical creature. The hare wasbelieved to have mystical links to the female cycle and to the moon whichgoverned it.

The theory of the Ancients that the hare was hermaphroditic and could procreatewithout a mate led to the belief that it could give birth to young without loss of virginity. In Christian contexts, the three hares may be associated with the VirginMary in her role in the redemption of mankind . This might explain why

y a three hares boss is often juxtaposed in western European churches with

y a boss of the Green Man, perhaps a representation of sinful humanity.

There is no evidence to support any link between the three hares motif and thetinners of Dartmoor. Its occasional description as the 'H unt of Venus' seems toarise from a misunderstanding of an alc hemical illustration published in a book by

Basil Valentine c.1600 CE. Linking the motif with the Christian Trinity appears tobe an association made long after the image was originally worked.

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