Joy BC
Serpente (Immeasurable Time), 2022
Recycled silver, recycled 18kt yellow gold, triangular trillion 0.3ct cut diamond and old cut 0.43ct diamond.
3cm long
2cm wide
Size 54
Edition 1 of 3 + 1 AP
Hallmarked, numbered and signed
The serpent, or snake, has been on earth for at least 100 million years. It occurs on all continents, some 3000 species. Across cultures and epochs, the snake is a powerful symbol which has been both feared and revered.
In Alchemy, the snake appears as the ‘ouroboros’, a snake eating its own tail, representing the unity of all things. The ouroboros refers to the mystery of cyclical time, which flows back into itself. The late poet Claudian described the ouroboros a surrounding a cave of ‘Immeasurable time’.
In the ancient Egyptian myth of the journey to the sun, where time itself is created, there is Apep, a giant water snake. Whereas in ancient Greece Ophio is a male serpent impregnated by the primeval divinity Eyrynome, who bore a cosmic egg. Demeter even had a chariot drawn by serpents.
In this rendition, rather the swallowing its own tail, the snakes head contains a modern triangular diamond, and the tail is wrapped around an old cut round diamond. The beginning and the end are thus still connected, but not too closely. Through a series of drawings and carvings I kept coming back to the snake. I see the snake in dreams as a friend, it is benevolent force, though it has to be respected, that connects us to the past and future.
The symbol of the snake is timeless.
