102068 | NETHERLANDS. "Looking at Time 2" cast bronze Medal.

102068  |  NETHERLANDS. "Looking at Time 2" cast bronze Medal. Issued 1990 (71mm, 195.72 g, 12h). By the Auguralis group.

 

Serpent coiled left around egg; outward-facing skull to left and right / kijken naar tijd 2 / panta rhei (πάντα ῥεῖ, "everything flows," –adapted from Heraclitus), lemniscate shape, representing infinity. Edge: "4" stamped at the top.

 

De Beeldennar (Jan/Feb 1991), p. 273. As Cast. Forest green surfaces, with great relief and some glossiness; date on egg erased, likely at the time of manufacture. Incredibly rare, with an output of just 5 pieces.

 

From a series of Dutch modern art medals, somewhat similar to the former Society of Medalists series in the United States and BAMS series in the United Kingdom, this entrant from 1990 considers the idea of the passage of time—a very modern take on the concept of vanitas or a memento mori. The egg represents birth or the creation of life, while the serpent—that of its winding journey, and the skull—that of death or the end of the journey. Similarly, this concept is reiterated on the reverse, with a nod to the Heraclitus phrase, πάντα ῥεῖ, or "everything flows." In the middle is a lemniscate shape, representing the seemingly endless, infinite, and somewhat entropic aspect of individual journeys in life.