A Venetian house renowned for its memento mori jewels, its serpents and engraved skulls, Codognato unveils new pieces in which emeralds, rubies and amethysts take over from the dark symbolism that built its reputation. Without ever giving up its historic vocabulary.
In Venice, in the historic boutique on Calle Larga XXII Marzo, Codognato has for more than a century cultivated an aesthetic spontaneously associated with the obscure: engraved skulls, coiled serpents, antique cameos, intaglios and hand-applied enamels make up the core of its vocabulary. The house, supplier to collectors and eccentrics since the days of Diana Vreeland, built its legend on the codes of memento mori, that jewellery reminder of mortality that has run through the centuries without ever really going out of fashion.
The new pieces unveiled this summer shift this centre of gravity slightly, without betraying it. Deep emeralds, vibrant rubies, luminous amethysts, but also garnets and sapphires now animate creations in which the coloured stone is never a mere decorative choice. At Codognato, each gem carries a story, a symbol, a fragment of memory carefully woven into the very particular universe of the house. The emerald evokes renewal and eternal life, the ruby passion and vitality, the amethyst wisdom and spiritual clarity, while carnelian, jade or peridot bring warmth, protection and prosperity.
Combined with the antique cameos, engraved intaglios and hand-applied enamels that form the house’s technical signature, these stones turn each jewel into a miniature work in which mythology, memento mori and Renaissance symbolism continue to coexist. Whether it lights up a serpent ring, underlines a Vanitas jewel or surrounds an antique intaglio, the coloured stone reveals an additional dimension of the house’s poetic language. Its brilliance contrasts with engraved gold, silver and enamel to compose jewels that are at once bold, timeless and deeply personal.
One might be surprised that a house built on the aesthetics of death should now choose colour to tell its story. It is nevertheless consistent with the history of Codognato, which has never reduced memento mori to a single chromatic range: the reminder of mortality has always gone hand in hand, at the house, with a very sure taste for ornament and precious material. Colour does not soften the message; it widens its vocabulary.
It remains to be seen whether this chromatic inflection will attract, alongside the house’s historic collectors, a younger clientele, less familiar with engraved skulls but receptive to jewellery that has a story to tell behind each stone.
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