Number symbolism in the renaissance lute rose

Abstract

In this article Robin Headlam Wells argues that the renaissance luthier adapted the decorative motifs which his instrument inherited from its Islamic origins in order to express the idea of armony. Despite their apparent variety most renaissance lute roses are based on two figures: the hexagram and the tetragram. According to the familiar body of Pythagorean doctrine transmitted throug Plato to the Middle Ages and the Re aissance, the numbers six and four were of profound significance. The author here suggests that, as the renaissance cosmographer represented the idea of a harmonious universe by means of number expressed diagrammatically, so the luthier e ployed geo etry to symbolize the principle of discordia concors. The vision of day and night and of months and circling years has created the art of Number and given us not only the notion of time, but also the means of research into the nature of the Universe. Plato, Timaeus