Arctic Hunt – earrings

The earrings pair portrays an arctic fox and an ermine in their winter coats. Foxes hunt by listening to the sounds coming from under the snow. Then they jump up and dive into the snow head first. In 2010 the scientists discovered, that when foxes aline their attack with the Earth’s magnetic field, the success rate of their hunt goes from 18% to 73%. They are able to do that thanks to a protein in their eye called cryptochrome. It is believed that foxes can actually see the Earth’s magnetic field. So whenever the fox is alined north, its success is almost guaranteed. That is why over my fox is a North Star, to bring it good fortune. The stone, over which the fox jumps, is an Ethiopian opal, which symbolizes Northern Lights. Its eyes are made of sapphires and on the tail there are several topazes playing a part of scattered snow and ice.

The other earring is a jumping ermine. Its summer fur is brown, but for the winter it changes completely white except for the tip of the tail. This thin, measuring up to 30 cm cute animal is in fact a viscious hunter. It is extremely resistant, persistant and can even hunt a hare (which is a couple of sizes bigger than the ermine). It is portrayed on the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci “Lady with an Ermine”. The ermine symbolizes on the painting Cecylia Gallerani’s lover – prince Ludovico Sforza, who was a member of the Order of the Ermine and used this animal as his personal emblem.

In the earring the ermine jumps over a topaz – which symbolizes the ice and the cold. Its eyes are made of sapphires and over its head is a small piece of Ethiopian opal in the role of the Northern Lights (because the ermines don’t live as far to the North as the foxes do).

The back of the earrings is decorated with topazes as well.

Weight: 15,9g + 19,4g

Dimensions: 4 cm x 4,8 cm

Silver 925