11. Lepus the Hare

Medium: Intaglio with hand coloring
Edition: 1/20
Dimensions: Plate 11.75x8.75; Paper 16x15"

Lepus the Hare is among the forty-eight-star groupings listed by Ptolemy in Greece during the second century AD. There is a popular moral tale about a man bringing a pregnant hare to the island of Leros. Until this time Leros's hare population was zero. The island's hare population grew rapidly and completely out of control. The landscape was overrun and the crops were destroyed. With a united community effort, the citizens drove the hares out. The hare's image was put into the sky as a remembrance of how one can have too much of a good thing.
In some Chinese myths the hare is associated with the moon. Instead of the man in the moon, a rabbit is seen. It is associated with personality traits of kindness, graciousness, generosity, amiability and artistic sensitivity in the Chinese zodiac.