It’s made mostly of coral… later mounted as a brooch with Art Deco
fittings. But why all three together? Is there a common link? Is
there some arcane magical thinking going on here? For the answer to
this an other poignant brain-wrenching questions… let us take a
trek down Analytical Lane.
Cornucopia… the Horn of Amaltheia (foster mother to Zeus)… she
is often represented as the goat who suckled the infant-god. In Irish
myth it is the cauldron of Dagda… giving forth endless abundance.
Phallic as a horn… it was carried by Priapus. Which leads us… by
the easiest of segues… to the topic of romance and hence to Cupid.
Cupid… well… we have to switch here from Greek gods to Roman
gods for Cupid is the Roman imitation of Eros. Golden quiver filled
with arrowed desires… ol’ Cupe falls love with Psyche and becomes
her nightly visitor. We can assume there’s a little moofky poofky
going on and it is here–I believe–that we can–with a little
stretch of the imagination --easily make the connection with Cupid
and Priapus. Of course… we now have but to allow for some
insignificant minor glitches… such as cross-culture mythological
leaps.
Dove. Ah…the white dove… sacred to mother-goddesses symbolizing
femininity and maternity. Well… you know… it was prominent in the
shrines of Aphrodite. As the raven is sin so is the dove the
representative of the purified soul. This has little if anything to
do with the lascivious connections afore hinted at… but it’s an
extra tidbit of I pass on to you in the spirit of amity
as well as the fact that the dove is the only creature that the
devil cannot transform himself into. As the messenger of Venus the
dove is particularly beneficial to lovers. My advice here is that if
you’re contemplating a roll in the hay be sure you have a dove in
the rafters. Can’t hurt. As a last addendum to this theme… I might
mention that a second dove is made of diamonds in the shape of what
might be interpreted as a heart … suspended beneath the coral
brooch.
The fact that the coral owes its allegiance to Venus might lead one
to speculate as to whether the creator of the brooch you are all
about to see made a conscious effort to correlate similar
characteristics of a carnal nature into one wholesome or unwholesome
whole or whether this was all nothing more than the happenstance of
a meandering mind. So… happenstance? Or… on purpose? Whaddya
think? You know how to get in touch with me. Let me know.
The value of our little doo-dad was about $20,000 about 15 years ago
and there is some speculation that it was purchased at Cartier in
Paris around 1925 even though Cartier was not able to locate this
piece in their archives.
So…
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… click it… and you will see represented on
our pages a coral brooch of Cupid with a cornucopia and a dove
within his reach.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark