There are few tools that carry the degree of symbolism associated with dividers. They are commonly depicted in prints and paintings of the Renaissance and earlier. Because dividers played such a key role in geometry, geography and architecture, in Renaissance art they came to represent science and learning in general.
It is claimed by some scholars that the Chinese Book of History references dividers and squares about 2000 BCE. Probably the earliest portrayal of dividers (compasses) is found in Chinese art from the 7th to the 9th century CE. Pictured below are the intertwined figures of Nuwa and Fuxi, one holding a square and plumb bob, the other a pair of dividers. Dividers are often shown associated with squares. The dividers are often interpreted to represent the heavens while the square represents the earth.
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| China: Nuwa and Fuxi |
Dividers are even mentioned in the Bible in Proverbs 8:27 “…when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the deep”. This is the quote associated with William Blake’s well known etching Ancient of Days inspired by the lines appearing in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, book VII:
In his hand
He took the golden Compasses prepar’d
In God’s Eternal store to circumscribe
This Universe, and all created
things:
One foot he center’d and the other
turn’d
Round through the vast profunditie
obscure.
And said, thus farr extend, thus
farr thy bounds,
This be thy just Circumference, O
World.
God the Geometer, 13th. century
I am not aware of dividers showing up in Greek art, but Greek mythology, as presented by the Roman poet Ovid, tells the story of Perdix who is said to have invented dividers as well as the saw. These inventions got him in trouble with his jealous uncle Daedalus who tossed him off a tower.
The Latin word for dividers is Circinus. Dividers appear on Roman stone funerary reliefs and Roman-era
dug dividers, calipers and proportional dividers are held in several European
museum collections. There is even a southern hemisphere astronomical constellation
Circinus representing a pair of
dividers.
Roman Funerary Relief Constellation Circinus
Surprisingly, dividers do not seem to have been used in Egyptian construction. At least I’m not aware they appear in any Egyptian hieroglyphics or as tomb artifacts. Likewise, I’m not aware of representations of dividers in any ancient New World cultures.
There are numerous 15th, 16th and
17th century European portraits of individuals holding dividers. In
these cases the tools usually represent the occupation or degree of learning of
the subject in the painting
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| Vermeer: The Geographer |
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| Holbein the Younger: Nicholas Kratzer |
Bellini: Man With A Pair of Dividers
The best known representation of dividers is likely the Masonic seal. Much has been written on the meaning of Masonic symbols, but generally the dividers are said to show the need to circumscribe our desires and keep passions within bounds.
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| Masonic Symbol |
The flag of the former East Germany (GDR) shows a pair of
dividers at its center which represents the intelligentsia while the hammer and
sheath of wheat are symbols of the workers and farmers respectively.
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| East German Flag |
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