What is the significance of sparrows in the 1940s?

[Viviene]

I found a 1940s dress with sparrows on the upper right bodice. I know there is something significant about sparrows in the 1940s having to do with tattoos and such but I want to make sure I have the correct information. Anyone know what their significance is? I thought it might have to do with the WRENS of the British Armed Services but it shows up in the United States often as well. Here is a glimpse of what I have. I would appreciate any help that anyone would be willing to provide.

 

[BellyTank]

Swallows-

Swallows are a traditional tattoo symbol- good luck.

Maybe due to Naval (of the Navy)tattoos originating from Japanese culture.

B
T

 

[mikepara]

I'll think you'll find...

They are lovebirds.

Swallows as BT rightly says are common tatoos but spuggies! Nah never.

 

[Alan Eardley]

Swallows or doves?

I think they are meant to represent a version of the stylised doves on the traditional willow pattern china.

The willow pattern tells a traditional story, which every mother in Stoke on Trent ('The Potteries', where much of such china used to be made) tells her children. The doves are a symbol of romance.

 

[Alan Eardley]

They are lovebirds.

Swallows as BT rightly says are common tatoos but spuggies! Nah never.

Mike,

I'm sure that you know that a tatood swallow on the base of the thumb used to show that its wearer has been an inmate of Walton Prison in Liverpool?

Alan

 

[BellyTank]

Alan-

They are Swallows on the Willow Pattern-
Swallows and Willow trees are a pair in Japanese mythological symbolism.

B
T

 

[Viviene]

Thank you very much for all your assistance.

 

[Micawber]

Examples of Victorian jewellery can sometimes be found with the same motif, the message as I understand it is that being migratory birds swallows always come back.

 

[The Wingnut]

The more common tattoo seen today mimicing a WWII era swallow tattoo theme was based on a tattoo that indicated the bearer was a veteran of Guadalcanal.

...I searched for a sketch by Howard Brodie depicting this, but couldn't find it on the web. If anyone has a copy of James Jones' 'WWII' it's in one of the sections of art plates.

 

[jake_fink]

Sliding Signifiers

The swallow and the dove have different significance depending on many factors, including culture. They may both commonly signify fidelity; as Micawber said, they always come back. Turtle doves frequently represent romantic love. I'm not sure what the birds on the dress are. I think they're significance may be simply that they look cool.

 

[Alan Eardley]

Willow pattern

The Willow Pattern design as it appears as an 'open stock' pattern on earthenware and china owes more to China than to Japan. It is, however, not an authentic design and was produced in Staffordshire in the 1770s, probably by one of the Minton family (which later became a famous pottery dynasty) or by a man named Thomas Turner. The design that contains all the elements of the willow pattern was put together from motifs on pottery that was being brought back to England from Canton by the British East India Company and particularly by Admiral Anson after his time there as a part of his famous voyage. Anson was, of course, from Staffordshire and some of his correspondence relating to this period is in the Staffordshire Record Office. Glyn Williams's scholarly book 'The Prize of all the Oceans' also makes interesting reading. Canton was a port trading with Japan long before the it traded with the West, so the influence of Japanese design on the Chinese ware of the period is considerable. The Willow Pattern is very westernised as well as stylised and bears little resemblance to authentic period Eastern design. The poem, on which the design is often supposed to be based, was actually written later (and therefore based on the design). The architectural details on the ware look remarkably like those in a book 'An Authentic and Genuine Journal of Commodore Anson's Expedition' published soon after Anson's return in 1744. It is widely accepted that the plates in the book were engraved by someone who had never been to China, from descriptions of people who had.

So, can we identify the birds? I think not. The story that used to be told by mothers in the Potteries who have been told by their mother etc. etc. back to the 18th Century has them as doves, which sympbolise constancy in Cantonese thought (or so my many friends in Hong Kong tell me). The 18th or early 19th Century poem just calls them birds. The semi-official website http://www.thepotteries.org/patterns/willow_patt.html identifies them as doves and places this in the context of the story. Does it matter? Nah. But my wife's a pottery designer and she told me to tell you this...