Coffee pot 1838

This silver coffee pot, crafted by Fa. As. Bonebakker en Zoon, features a striking handle terminating in a serpentine form. Serpents, those ancient symbols of transformation and healing, have slithered through art and myth for millennia. In ancient Greece, the serpent entwined around the staff of Asclepius signified medicine, a motif still prevalent today. Yet, the serpent is a double-edged symbol. Think of the seductive serpent in the Garden of Eden, a tempter leading humanity toward forbidden knowledge, and the concept of cyclical renewal embodied in the Ouroboros. Observe how the serpent, once a symbol of wisdom and healing, has morphed into an emblem of deceit and chaos. The collective unconscious, as Jung might say, carries these archetypes, shaping our responses to such potent images. The coffee pot's serpentine handle is a subtle reminder of the inherent duality in life, a conversation between past and present. The shadow of ancestral beliefs.