Daniela Banci, Is this Europe? Brooch, 2023, sterling silver, 750 gold, white agate, Ø 9 cm

The brooch is composed of a circular frosted silver plate onto which the yellow gold letters making up the word Concordia (concord, harmony) are soldered. A white agate disc with a rough surface overlaps the silver disc to conceal and protect the lemma Concordia. The work is inspired by the Allegory of Good Government frescoed by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Sala dei Nove in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena. In particular, it refers to the female figure sitting at  the feet of Justice, who holds in her lap a carpenter's plane with the inscription Concordia, the symbol of equality among citizens. An appeal to harmony and dialogue among peoples aimed at finding  the common good.

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Daniela Banci, Cras ingens iterabimusne aequor? Brooch, 2023, sterling silver, Ø 11.5 cm

The brooch features a circular embossed silver plate with two microfused columns surmounted by an architrave. The composition refers both to the Pillars of Heracles as the limit in the Mediterranean Sea beyond which men could not set foot, and to the important role the sea has always played in the history of European conquests. The title is taken from a Horatian ode whose final appeal 'We will set out over the vast sea tomorrow' is turned by the artist into a question about Europe's destiny, its ability to keep looking for conquests elsewhere, or to fall back on its own land to put down deep roots.