Celebrating 2025: The Year of the Snake
Celebrating 2025
The Year of the Snake
Curated by Art of the Ancestors Editorial Team
As we emerge into the auspicious Year of the Snake, 2025 beckons with the serpentine wisdom of adaptability and profound introspection, inviting us to shed the constrictive skins of our past limitations and embrace the transformative potential inherent in cultural exchange and intellectual renewal. With the sinuous grace characteristic of this zodiac sign, may we navigate the complex currents of global understanding, weaving together the intricate threads of academic discourse and cross-cultural empathy, and approach the coming year with the keen perception and strategic intelligence embodied by the snake—striking a delicate balance between artistic rigor and the fluid, ever-evolving landscape of human knowledge and connection.
1
Pair of Menuki in the form of Snakes
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Iwamoto Konkan (1744–1801) 岩本、昆寛
Late 18th century
Edo Period
Japan
Main material: gold
Decorative technique: uchidashi, takabori
1890, Charles Goddard Weld Collection;
bequest to MFA, Boston, December 7, 1911
11.5351a
2
Coiled Serpent
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
15th–early 16th century
Mexico, Mesoamerica
Aztec peoples
Stone
Museum Purchase, 1900
00.5.32
3
Single Snake Armlet
The Dallas Museum of Art
Roman Empire
1st century CE
Gold
Dallas Museum of Art, Museum League Purchase Funds, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., and Cecil H. and Ida M. Green in honor of Virginia Lucas Nick
1991.75.92.1
4
Ritual Vessel | Kendi
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen
14th century
Java
Bronze
RV-1403-2346
5
Double-Headed Snake Mosaic Pectoral
The British Museum
1400-1521
Mexico
Aztec peoples
Turquoise, cedrela wood, oyster shell, conch shell, pine resin, copal, beeswax, hematite
Field Collection by Duchessa Massimo
Purchased through Lord Walsingham in 1894
Am1894,-.634
6
Carved Snake Figure
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Before 1880
Cenderwasih Bay, Papua New Guinea
Wood, pigments
Donated by Adolf Bastian in 1880
VI 3472
7
Bracelet with Snake Heads
The Dallas Museum of Art
Urartian (?)
7th–6th century BCE
Gold
Dallas Museum of Art, Museum League Purchase Funds, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., and Cecil H. and Ida M. Green in honor of Virginia Lucas Nick
1991.75.99
8
Stone Box depicting 7 Snakes
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Postclassical
Mexico
Aztec peoples
Collected by Carl Adolf Uhde
(February 2, 1792 - November 17, 1856)
Purchased in 1862
IV Ca 3771
9
Gold Snake Armband
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen
Before 1907
Sumatra
Mandailing peoples
Gold alloy
RV-1623-229
10
Double-Headed Water Snake Prow Decoration
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen
Maluku
Damar peoples
Before 1899
Wood, pigments
RV-1241-357
11
Snake Zodiac Figure | 清康熙 景德鎮窯素胎彩瓷生肖蛇俑
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
17th century
China
Porcelain, portions unglazed and with turquoise and aubergine glazes
Gift of Birgit and Peter Morse, in memory of Betty and Sydney Morse, 1992
1992.100.5
12
Serpent-form Head Ornament (Sanggori) with Human Figure
The Dallas Museum of Art
19th century
Sulawesi
Kulawi peoples
Copper alloy
Dallas Museum of Art, gift of The Nasher Foundation in honor of Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher
2008.56
All artworks and images presented in this feature are the property of the attributed museums.