Serpent Jewellery

Part VI - Serpents

Our fifth season of Gem Pursuit feat. Matthew Weldon & Alyce Ketcher is called 'Treasured Tokens: the Secret Language of Jewellery'

In the penultimate episode of this series, we take a look at the mysterious and often misunderstood symbol that is the serpent.

The snake has been an extremely popular motif in jewellery down through the centuries, partly because of the way it naturally coils around the body but also due to its complex and ambivalent symbolic signifiance.

We talk about the serpent in the story of Adam & Eve, René Lalique and the Art Nouveau movement, Sarah Bernhardt's Medusa headpiece, Diana Vreeland and of course Bulgari's Serpenti collection.

Listen to the end for Collector's Tips where we'll tell you what to look out for when you're buying your own pieces of serpent jewellery.

Producer: Ross Hannon

Additional Research: Giulia Grasseschi

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