Ode to a poem: Ginkgo biloba

This ring is an ode to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem Ginkgo Biloba, written in 1815, in which he sees the beautiful bilobed leaf as a symbol of harmony and love, as a natural Yin and Yang.

The Ring

The ring von Goethe is beautifully crafted in 18 Karat gold. The ring has two parallel ring bands, typically made of rose gold, or in a variance in white gold set with diamonds, with two Ginkgo leaves mounted between them. The leaves are either set with brilliant cut diamonds or finely crafted with colored enamel in the varieties red, black or blue.

The Poem

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was renowned as a poet and as a natural scientist. Von Goethe was intrigued by the bilobal leaves of the Ginkgo trees which grew in his city Weimar. The split in the leave to him had a meaning analogous to his famous expression “Two souls, alas, are dwelling in my breast” – the philosophy of two in one and one in two. An occidental Yin and Yang. On 15 September 1815 von Goehte dedicated a poem to Marianne von Willemer. Ginkgo Biloba. In it he likened the split leaf to two united in one, by which he meant to communicate his ambivalence between his craving for his work and his love for Marianne.

This tree’s leaf, which here the East
In my garden propagates
On its secret sense we feast
Such as sages elevates.

Is it but one being single
Which as same itself divides?
Are there two that choose to mingle
So that one the other hides?

As the answer to such question
I have found a sense that’s true:
Is it not my song’s suggestion
That I’m one and also two?

Poem in Goethe’s handwriting as published in West-Oestlicher Diwan.

CADEAUX JEWELRY is available in Bangkok at CADEAUX JEWELRY, The Peninsula Plaza, 153 Rachadamri Road and at CADEAUX JEWELRY, Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel Bangkok, Lower Lobby, 494 Ratchadamri Road, Bangkok.

Photos of the necklace CADEAUX Jewelry “Empress Sisi”: Phasanont Pat. Photos of the Aquamarine’s design and engraving process: courtesy Wild & Petsch and Erwin Pauly.

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