Temple "Clamshell/Fan" Design

[oMtonic]

I believe in one of the early temples in this dispensation (Kirtland or Nauvoo, I think) there is a design inside of the temple (above a window, perhaps) that looks like a clamshell or fan.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about and/or have a picture of it?

Thank you very much!

[LeSellers]

I believe in one of the early temples in this dispensation (Kirtland or Nauvoo, I think) there is a design inside of the temple (above a window, perhaps) that looks like a clamshell or fan.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about and/or have a picture of it?

I just checked Brown and Smith, Symbols in Stone, and they have nothing to say about either a fan or clamshell device. Not definitive, but their work is very detailed, so I'd give it a 95% probability that it does not exist.

Lehi

[David T]

Salt Lake Celestial room.

[oMtonic]

I thought Symbols in Stone might have it, but I don't have the book and have never read it (The Gate of Heaven is another story). I also believe the symbol I'm talking about is not what's depicted in that photo of the Salt Lake Temple Celestial Room with the statue in front of it (I will say that it looks similar, though with the different "sections" of it more like "folds").

I am pretty sure I've seen what I'm referring to on multiple occasions, and it kind of bugs me that I can't seem to find it.

Thanks for the help so far, Lehi and nack.

[Helorum]

Salt Lake Temple doorknob and lower part of the plate.

(Symbols in Stone, pp. 134-35).

http://www.lds-images.com/images/SLCKnob.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2259/2102246236_c80d386ff1.jpg

[LeSellers]

Salt Lake Temple doorknob and lower part of the plate.

(Symbols in Stone, pp. 134-35).

• Olive Branches. Two olive branches laden with fruit surround the handclasp design. Throughout the scriptures the house of Israel is compared to an olive tree. The prophet Lehi taught that the branches of the olive tree represent the various branches of the chosen house. Because the olive branches surround the encircled handclasp on the doorplate, one could interpret this entire group of symbols to mean that only those belonging to the house of Israel may enter into eternal covenants. Olive wood was so highly valued in ancient Israel that it was used to construct the door leading into the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple.
  ...
• Palmette. Palm Trees decorated the interior of Somolon's Temple; in this context ther were symbolic of the Tree of Life. In the Psalms we read that: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree .. . Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God". Palm branches are also associated with the Hosanna Shout that is offered up in the temples of God.

[Their emphasis; references and footnotes removed]

This doesn't say anything about either clam shells or fans, but if Helorum is right, you have the information you were looking for.

Lehi

[Acris Venator]

Salt lake has some clam shell deco in the Terrestrial room also.

[mapman]

I know this isn't quite on topic, but since there was some controversy over this matter in another thread a while ago, I think I'll clear the matter up here. In the photo that nackhadlow posted of the celestial room, there is a statue of a person in front of a shell or beams of light. Some people thought it was a depiction of Mary, others Aphrodite, and I think there were some other explanations offered. Recently I found an article from Harper's Weekly in a database I just got access to through BYU. The article is a description of the Salt Lake Temple during the open house.

5/27/1893

INSIDE THE NEW MORMON TEMPLE

By Eugene Young, of Salt Lake City

* * *

Passing through drooping silk damask curtains hang-

ing from a fifty-foot arch, the party at last reached the

most beautiful room in the building, the Celestial Room, in-

tended to typify the glory of the highest kingdom in the

hereafter as compared with the lower kingdom. If human

art can present an idea of heaven, it must be presented in

this part of the building, for an air of rest and comfort per-

vades the very atmosphere. The background, of warm

terra-cotta brown, is relieved by hangings of the richest ma-

terial and most exquisite shades of color, and also by eight

massive and richly carved Greek columns, four each on the

north and south sides, each of which ends in a niche for the

bust of a prominent churchman, the busts of Brigham

Young, Wilford Woodruff, now president of the Church,

and George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, his counsellors,

being already placed in four of these niches. Over the arch

at the west end of the room is a figure of the Virgin in

white, the work of a Utah sculptor; and two rich paint-

ings hang at the east end, representing respectively the

Hill Cumorah, where Joseph Smith is supposed to have

found the plates of the Book of Mormon, and Adam-on-di-

Ahman, a place in Missouri, where Adam is supposed to

have built an altar when he was cast out of the Garden of

Eden, it being a part of the Mormon belief that the Garden

of Eden was on this continent. The roof, however, is the

most beautiful part of the room, as bunches of fruits and

flowers, naturally moulded and artistically painted, hang

thereon in convergent lines, forming a satisfying picture for

an

[Bill Hamblin]

I know this isn't quite on topic, but since there was some controversy over this matter in another thread a while ago, I think I'll clear the matter up here. In the photo that nackhadlow posted of the celestial room, there is a statue of a person in front of a shell or beams of light. Some people thought it was a depiction of Mary, others Aphrodite, and I think there were some other explanations offered. Recently I found an article from Harper's Weekly in a database I just got access to through BYU. The article is a description of the Salt Lake Temple during the open house.

So the sculpture is actually Mary and presumably the work of a Mormon.

I believe--and I may be wrong--that it is supposed to represent the Woman in the Wilderness in Rev. 12, which Catholics equate with Mary.

[David T]

While almost certainly unintended, I like the idea of it connecting with the imagery of the protoevangelion, where Mary is weaving the veil of the Temple when she experiences the Annunciation.

[Ron Beron]

I believe in one of the early temples in this dispensation (Kirtland or Nauvoo, I think) there is a design inside of the temple (above a window, perhaps) that looks like a clamshell or fan.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about and/or have a picture of it?

Thank you very much!

I am not sure if this is what you are seeking, but...

[oMtonic]

I am not sure if this is what you are seeking, but...

Thanks, Ron, although if it's the window you are referring to, that is not it. It is closer to some of the other images that have been linked to/posted.