Umbrellas 101

Famous Umbrellas Throughout History

The umbrella, that bizarre dome-shaped contraption, has spanned the world and centuries, serving a variety of purposes. 

Believe it or not, the umbrella has been around 3000 years, and served a wide variety of purposes.  It can be traced back to ancient Egypt, through the Greek and Roman Empires, Chinese dynasties, India and Southeast Asia, 17th century continental Europe to the modern-day U.K., U.S. and Australia, and has shielded man from rain, sun and unwanted attention.  It has served as embellishment, as in the case of the cocktail umbrella and ladies’ parasol, and shelter against monsoons, sleet and other slick conditions.  Its image has been used in advertising, such as the Morton Salt tin and the MetLife campaign, and its meaning has been broadened to describe corporate conglomerates.    

The umbrella was used as a religious symbol in Egypt, symbolizing the vault of heaven over the heads of kings and nobility.  It is depicted in ancient engravings as the flaellum, a gathering of palm-leaves or colored feathers affixed to a long handle (think Cleopatra), as in Gardiner Wilkinson’s image of an Ethiopian princess journeying through Upper Egypt on her chariot.  The image reappeared in ancient Greece, where the parasol was again reserved for citizens of distinction – women in particular.  Female slaves were wont to hold parasols over the heads of their chic mistresses, as in the feasts of Athene Sciras and Dionysius.  The trend traveled to Rome via the Etruscans, where its use again remained exclusive to women by the hands of their nearest servants.  As peoples based so closely to the Equator, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans undoubtedly used the device to ward off the intense rays of the sun, but the ornamental quality – as evidenced by its depiction on Etruscan vases and in the verses of Ovid – suggest that it served as much decoratively as functionally.

The Roman Empire fell but the accessory lived on through the Zhou and Song Dynasty in China, where by then it had advanced technologically so as to be collapsible and upheld by ribbing.  As in earlier societies, the umbrella was a luxury bestowed over the heads of nobility first and foremost; on one occasion in particular, 24 parasols preceded the hunting excursion of an Emperor, so as to protect him from the rain.  The umbrella traversed to Japan by way of Korea, and to Persia and the Western World by way of the Silk Road, where the design further transformed and developed. 

By 16th century England and France, the design had improved so as to include a backward-sloping handle, facilitating its carriage over the heads of the gentry and horsemen to shield against the wind, sun and rain. Over the next two centuries its use expanded and again returned to the fashionable womenfolk, manufactured in gentler fabrics like silk and gingham.  Form and function continually developed over the course of the proceeding centuries, such cotton, plastic film and nylon eventually replaced the flimsy silk. In southern and eastern Europe the device found its way into the religious ceremonies of the Byzantine Church, and continue to connote reverence of prominent figures in the Oriental Orthodox Church.