vesica piscis

[vuh-sahy-kuh pahy-sis, pis-is, vuh-see-kuh pis-kis, ves-i-kuh]

noun

Fine Arts.

1. an elliptical figure in pointed form, usually one made by the intersection of two arcs and used, especially in early Christian art, as an emblem of Christ.

Word History and Origins

Origin of vesica piscis¹

First recorded in 1800–10, vesica piscis is from New Latin vēsīca piscis literally, “bladder of a fish”

Example Sentences

For this series of works, the Los Angeles-based artist studied Google Earth to view the geometries of Washington, D.C., and used those to create a “feminized” version of the city’s landscape and monuments — for example, transforming the phallic obelisk of the Washington Monument into a vesica piscis — two intersecting discs that seem to channel female anatomy in clever, geometric ways.

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Mandorla, man-dor′la, n. an oval panel, or a work of art filling such: the vesica piscis.

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Within the vesica piscis, artists usually represent the virgin herself, with or without the child; in the figure before us the child takes her place.

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The living group, moreover, are placed in an archway, delta, or door, which is symbolic of the female, like the vesica piscis, the oval or the circle.

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The erect oval symbol of the Female Principle of Nature became the Vesica Piscis, and the Crux Ansata, testifying the union of the male and female in the most obvious manner, is transformed into the orb surmounted by the cross, as an ensign of royalty.

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