photo #5021521

Banks of Stratocumulus clouds frame the full Moon as a lone woman gazes on wistfully in this nighttime scene painted by an unknown Chinese artist during the Yuan or early Ming dynasty. The woman is not just anybody; she is Chang’e, the Chinese goddess of the Moon. She is immortal and resides in a lunar palace, where she is often said to be accompanied by her pet, a jade hare or rabbit. The hare is forever busy grinding ingredients in a mortar for the elixir of eternal life. The myth’s detail of the goddess’s pet likely arises because, from Earth, some of the dark patches, or ‘seas’, on the Moon’s surface can resemble the silhouette of a hare.Chang E, The Moon Goddess (1345–1445) painted on silk by an unknown artist, held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, US.