Neptun eyes in Goldwasser by Sophie Hanagarth

Necklace

Published: 10.05.2013

The piece of amber that was given to me looked like a cut of dried meat or bacon. Its surface gave the impression of wrinkled skin and under this crust there were thin sheets of different colours: creamy opaque and transparent honey. l tried to preserve the skin which covered this torn flesh and l was also interested to discover the depth of this piece of amber. So I created an oculus to look through this material. The idea was to create a polished window in the shape of an eye. At the same time, l went looking on the internet for some wrought iron (which happens to be a great interest of mine at the moment) in Gdańsk and l found an image of the beautiful gate which protects the Fountain of Neptune. Neptune, usually represented as an old man, inspired the eyes and, at the same time, a Gdańsk legend : the origin of the famous Goldwasser liqueur that reminded me of another form of Baltic gold: amber. The amber was sliced length-wise, so l had two identical drop-shaped parts. l engraved one eye on each part one was creamy and the other golden. They are bound by hook-shaped chain links, an echo of the heavy chains lying in a harbour. Every iron hook was forged to form a worm for this sea god, originally a Chthonian god connected to the underground world.