Necklace from Albrecht Dürer’s “Magic Square” collection
A necklace from the “Magic Square” collection, inspired by Albrecht Dürer’s “Melancholia I.” Made of bronze and coated with black ruthenium.
Dimensions: 23 x 23 mm
Sold as a set with a 50-cm chain featuring a 4.5-cm length adjustment.
The “Magic Square” collection, designed for RD-Bijoux, Paris. The front of the necklace depicts the magic square found in the upper right corner of “Melancholia I.” The numbers 15 and 14 visible in the center of the bottom row give us the date the engraving was created, 1514. The significance of this square—like that of many other elements contained in the engraving and the engraving itself—has long been a subject of discussion among experts. All the more so because this magic square has extraordinary properties: the magic sum in Dürer’s square is 34—every row, column, diagonal, the 4 squares in the center, the 4 squares in the corner… And many other combinations also total 34. Experts have identified 86 different combinations of four numbers from Dürer’s magic square that add up to 34!
On the back of the necklace is Dürer’s famous monogram, which he designed in 1495. Dürer was one of the first artists to sign his works—especially his drawings—and one of the first to seek to protect his intellectual property rights (which was no easy task, given that his works enjoyed immense popularity in many countries). In 1505, the artist even traveled to Italy, where, as a result of his intervention, the Venetian Senate enacted a law prohibiting anyone other than the artist himself from using Dürer’s monogram.
