Boundaries - Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the Discovery of Geological Time - page 184

Hampton used these materials to fashion elaborate ornaments. Foil wrapped
around lightbulbs and jelly jars forms the main decoration of most structures,
but he used kraft paper and cardboard as well to make wings and stars (also
lined or covered with foil), and he built rows of knobs from balls of crumpled
foil (or news- paper surrounded by foil), and he lined the edges of several
tables with thin tubes of electrical cable covered by gold foil.
Although I marveled at these ingenious constructions when I first saw
Hampton's Throne in Washington, I was even more stunned by the clear and
intricate concept of the ensemble. The symmetries are overpowering—and
entirely consistent. Each piece is bilaterally symmetrical about its central axis
(Figures 5.2 and 5.3), like a human body (not "symmetrical along several
axes," as Hartigan, 1976, wrote). This two-fold symmetry also permeates the
entire design—for all 177 pieces show perfect bilateral symmetry around the
central axis defined by Christ's throne (Figure 5.1). Each piece to the right of
Christ's throne is matched by a corresponding object to the left,
symmetrically wrought to the last intricate detail of cardboard star and foil-
covered lightbulb.
I was already thinking about this topic when I saw Hampton's throne, but did
not know how or whether to proceed. The metaphor of time's arrow and
time's cycle had unlocked, at least for me, the central meaning of three great
and generally misinterpreted documents of my profession. I had worked out
both the tension and resolution in Burnet's commingling of these metaphors
in his wonderful frontispiece (see Figure 2.1). I was on a brief coffee break
from a dull meeting and had wandered into the museum's vestibule, where
Hampton's throne is displayed. I was attracted by the glitter, and walked over.
This topic congealed during the next ten minutes, one of those magic
moments in any scholar's life. I looked at Hampton's throne and I saw
Burnet's frontispiece. The two structures are identical in concept; they
display the same conflict and resolution between time's arrow of history and
time's cycle of immanence. They are not merely similar in overall purpose;
they are identical in intricate detail as well.