He … of noble birth … outstanding beauty … intelligence …
strength … suckled by a she-bear … he is the basis for our piece
of jewelry.
I digress … for those of you who have not missed one issue of
Tidbits since its inception about six years ago and may want to
accuse me of repetitiveness … I stand guilty as charged. I did
indeed do a small piece back then on this same topic. But the
coloring was different … the thrust less poignant … the taste
less piquant.
I continue. Mythological themes in jewelry are not easy. You can
carve a Gorgon’s head … or a hammer of Thor … or a lightning
bolt … or a majestic Pegasus in flight … or a viper or a flower
or a mountain. But can you carve a theme? One might say nay and one
might say yay … but only the yays would be right.
There is a brooch made of Sterling and now held in a private
collection whose birth was gleaned from a piece of jewelry held by
the British Museum. Its theme is: The Judgement of Paris. Paris …
our protagonist … is surrounded by Hera, and Athena, and
Aphrodite. He holds in his hand an apple. Ahhh … that fateful
fruit. Paris has to decide which of the three is most beautiful …
and to her will go the mythical apple.
To me … this sounds like a lose lose situation. Once he chooses
… two females with great powers are going to be a tad upset with
him. Have any of you ever had a woman of great and magical powers
angry with you? Have you ever had two? I shudder to think of the
consequences. Just so you know … if I was in this situation …
I’d eat the damn thing and let the girls figure it out for
themselves.
In any case … this brooch can also be worn as a pendant. And it’s
truly striking. Should any of you out there be less than impressed
… I would ask you to carve a theme for me. A mythological theme
perhaps. Make it into a piece of jewelry. Have it tell a story.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Tidbits…and then click on the link that says: Paris … where you
will see a graphic of a brooch created with talent and ingenuity.
And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks. Catch you all
next week. Benjamin Mark
-- http://www.tyler-adam.com --