Created in 1965 by Robert Chase. Copy of a piece by Jane Anderson. As used in the symbolism of Christianity represents the Resurrection, but the “Bird of Phoenicia” is far more ancient than Christianity, possibly more ancient even than its verbal account in Greek mythology. On prehistoric fragments, from widely scattered cultures there are creatures so similar that the question arises whether or not each had an independent origin. This art motif has been rendered in almost every known style, the angular elegance of ancient Egyptian pictographs, the ornate grace of the Oriental, the organic intricacy of New World cultures, the heraldic naivete of mid-European, the striking flash of modern abstract. Across the ages and without words the Phoenix presents suggestion of the concept that even from the very ashes of devastation arises something new, aspiring, brave, and beautiful. In story, song, poetry, and figurative prose, it has been applied specifically to the recurring dawn, the seasonal rebirth, the rebuilding of the cities, the fall and rise of empires, the elaboration of a new mythology when an old system of myths has been exploded, as well as to the Resurrection of Osiris and later Jesus Christ.