Pendant – Le Poulpe Colossal

Description

A 30x40mm resin cameo pendant mounted in a nickel-free zinc alloy pendant.

The pendant is based on the engraving “Le Poulpe Colossal” (The Giant Octopus), by engraver Felix de Roissy. It was featured in the book “Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière des mollusques : animaux sans vertèbres et a sang blanc” published in 1801 by French naturalist Pierre Denys de Montfort (1766-1820). The engraving was purportedly based on a painting from 1661, which was gifted to the church of St. Thomas, in Saint-Malo, France, by sailors, in thanks to their patron saint for protecting them from such a beast. It was said to have hung there until 1789, at which point it was moved to the Cathedral of Saint-Malo, where it remained until it was either lost or destroyed in 1944.