One of my favourite jewellery books is ‘Serpentina’ by Fritz Falk. In it, Falk traces the history of snake jewellery in Europe and Asia from the Ancient Egyptian period to the 20th century. He also explores how snake jewellery appeared in West Asia countries, Africa and the Americas over time. The jewellery photos are splendid and capture the essence of snakes, long, slithery and able to be wrapped around wrists or necks, or coiled around fingers.
I have chosen some lovely snake pieces for this week’s blog, all showcasing snake coils. The first piece is the vintage gold snake ring at the top of the post. While most snake rings usually wrap once, twice or three times around the finger, this one does this but also coils itself around the top of the ring. It is beautifully cross hatched to represent textured scales.
The next pieces are all snake bracelets. The first is a 19th century French silver mesh wrap bracelet set with gold floral motifs. It has a silver etched tail and head, with garnet eyes. There is a picture of a similar coiled bracelet on page 76 of ‘Serpentina’ which dates it around 1800. Mine is a thinner version and probably dates later in the century.
The next bracelet is made of Whitby jet and is also designed to wrap around the wrist. This is circa 1880s.
The final snake bracelet is 19th century French, made of pinchbeck and black enamel. With engraved pinchbeck head and tail. It is more rigid than the other snake bangles but does encircle the wrist two and a half times.
navette jewellery 