Pendant Design with a Sea Monster Carrying Neptune on an Urn Beside a River-God with an Oar 1582

This is a pendant design made by Adriaen Collaert, a master of engraving, sometime between the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It teems with watery deities: Neptune is carried on an urn, accompanied by a river god, all atop a fantastical sea monster. The sea monster, a chimera of scales, fins, and reptilian ferocity, is not merely decorative. Its roots plunge deep into the collective unconscious. Think of the Leviathan, the monstrous sea creature from the Old Testament. It embodies the untamed, primal forces of nature. Here, Neptune's mastery over this beast speaks to the Renaissance desire to harness and understand the natural world. But note how this taming is itself a recurring motif, an echo of ancient myths where gods battled chaos. The sea monster is a cyclical symbol, resurfacing in different guises across history. The monster's transformation into a jeweled pendant reveals our ongoing need to reconcile the beautiful with the terrifying.