An Ancient Bee Googled its way to Me

December 04, 2012

Ephesus bee ring

Early last Spring I got an email saying he found me by way of an online search and would I be interested in doing a commission for him based on an ancient gold ring from Ephesus.  

He wanted to give it as a gift to a dear friend of his who had just seen the ring at the Getty Villa and was in love with it.  She'd also seen coins from Ephesus, since she is his assistant when he photographs coin collections.  This gentleman has gone all over the world with his job and been overseas for several years working for a non-profit documenting museum and private collections.  Visiting Ephesus and documenting items from there was at least one of those trips.The hairs on my neck stood on end when I looked at the photo he'd attached above.

Well, it was meant to be, wasn't it?!  In the Fall of 2010 Ephesus was one of the destinations on a cruise we took with our friends.  It was definitely a highlight and I blogged about it here and here.

Since the cost of gold is prohibitive and plating an item with gold would make it more susceptible to wear I offered to create a pendant in silver with gold plating on the front.  He had to wait until my studio was set up once again which was fine with him.  I was ready early summer, but life had dealt him a very nasty card in the mean time and we put everything on hold.I was so happy to hear from him earlier this Fall for many reasons.  One was certainly the nudge to work on his piece.  I'd been thinking about it for months and decided that a coin was really the way to do it since they were such a big part of his career.  I love coins and have quite a collection myself, but none ancient.  I imagine the ring was used as a seal for correspondence and likely owned by a resident of one of the terrace houses that we saw being restored.  I like to imagine that some ancient ancestor of mine used that seal. 

Ephesus Bee Pendant- metal clay by Honey from the Bee
 

Setting it in a pendant gave the added advantage of protecting the gold from wear even more.

 
Ephesus Bee pendant by Honey from the Bee

The gold addition proved to be more challenging than I'd anticipated.  I'd worked with a 22kt product a few years ago with success, but for some reason it just wasn't working well with this piece.  I think it's because I'd given it a good burnishing  I wanted that smooth shiny look and the product doesn't bond well to that.  I looked at other options and wondered about electroplating.  A fellow artist, Michela Verani, told me she has had great success with it so I promptly purchased the equipment and while waiting for its arrival I did some more finish work on the pendant piece.  I wanted it to blend in with the coin - have some character, age, my tool marks - rather than be something that could've been purchased out of a catalog of fine jewelry.

I can tell you that I'm in awe of the talent of the goldsmith that created this ring in antiquity that so inspired me and my client's friend.I just heard from my client that the recipient was giddy upon seeing the photos.  So yes you guessed it, I am giddy too!  Since there's no surprise at this point I thought I'd share my latest commission and the story behind it.