Melancholy as inspiration 

Green as in innocent, the beauty of gray. The neckpiece to the left is made of a large spalted emerald hexagonal, gray diamonds, spektrolite, silver. ‘Waterfall’ to the right is made of raw crystal aquamarine, silver. The earrings in absinthe hues comprise chrysoprase, peridot and oxidized 18 K white gold.

Albrecht Dürer's Melencolia I “combines the traditional iconographies of melancholy and geometry, both governed by Saturn”. So wrote the art historian Erwin Panofsky.

The engraving features many things, a brooding angel surrounded by symbols referring to intellectual pursuits, The geometric figures, a putto, balance scales, hourglass, a polyhedron or, a magic square are things which can be used for artistic creation but also alchemy. The image has been interpreted as depicting the creative person's conflict between creation and impotence. It probably had a deeply personal meaning for Dürer, who at the time of its creation (in 1514) was wrestling with doubts about the existence of objective laws for artistic creation. In the distance the sun shoots its forceful rays, inside a rainbow the title, Melencolia I is easily read.

I didn’t think of Dûrer when I made piece (2006) that aimed to be an almost monochrome worn image. On the back of the emerald is engraved: ‘Then and Now’, a hidden-from-plain-view reminder to the wearer to keep the dialogue flowing between the past and present. I thought of Dürer only years later.