Ontwerp voor een monogram met de letters J en B 1869 - 1925

Antoon Derkinderen sketched this monogram with pen and ink. Here we see the letters 'J' and 'B' interwoven. The circle—eternal, encompassing—harkens back to ancient symbols of wholeness and divinity, like the Ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail, representing the cyclical nature of life and death. The vertical line cutting through, crowned with a flourish, suggests a pathway or conduit, much like the caduceus, a symbol associated with Hermes, messenger of the gods. This symbol has shed its skin many times. Such visual elements are not merely aesthetic; they resonate with our collective subconscious. The urge to create monograms reflects a deep-seated desire to distill identity into symbolic form. These symbols are vessels, carrying meaning from one era to the next, constantly reshaped by the currents of human experience.