Traditions & provenance
The story
behind the symbol.
Begin with the particular tradition. Keep the reference and the object distinct.
Eight trigrams. Many contexts.
The eight trigrams, or bagua, are associated with the Yijing, the Book of Changes. Their broken and unbroken lines have appeared in many visual contexts.
Museum collections preserve examples on ceramics and clothing. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example, records both a Ming-dynasty incense burner and a Qing-dynasty theatrical robe bearing the eight trigrams. Those are specific objects with their own histories, not evidence of the origin or purpose of a newly made piece.
Our moving diagram.
The geometry on this website brings trigrams, a nine-part grid and a taiji form into a contemporary decorative composition. It is not a divination instrument or a representation of ritual authority. You can pause it with the control in the header.
Provenance belongs to the piece.
Ask who made an object, when, where and from what. A symbol with a long history does not make a contemporary object an antique, nor establish a particular maker or lineage.
Different traditions remain different.
References to the Yijing, Daoist traditions or birth-chart interpretation should be named precisely. We do not treat them as interchangeable, or present symbolic associations as guaranteed health, financial or personal outcomes.
Look at the source.
For concrete examples of the eight trigrams in historical objects, begin with these collection records. These references do not imply affiliation with or endorsement by either museum.