«Unconquered»

Jewelry Sculpture

Materials:

silver, white jade, lapis lazuli, diamond necklace, black pearls.

№ Н-25-12-366

“No, I'm alive! I'll live eternally!
I have that in my heart which cannot die!”
Forest Song, 1911

To mark the 155th anniversary of the birth of the distinguished Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka, seasoned professionals at the House of Lobortas have created a piece of jewellery titled The Unconquered, now on display at the museum on Saksahanskoho Street in Kyiv. It is here, in the house where the poetess lived between 1890 and 1910, that the curated space of her memory and creative presence is preserved today. The museum forms part of a complex of buildings known as the Ukrainian Parnassus — a centre of intellectual and artistic life where the new Ukrainian culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries took shape.

This piece of jewellery is crafted in the tradition of small-scale sculpture, combining a portrait with a symbolic landscape setting. The upper part of the composition is rendered in the noble lustre of silver, capturing the contours of the poetess’s face and the folds of her clothing. At the same time, the metal evokes a sense of her restrained, intellectual, and spiritually focused inner light. In her hand, she holds an open book whose pages unfold into wings — a metaphor for the living, soaring word. A quote by the poetess is engraved upon them.

White jade, as a symbol of unshakeable faith and moral strength, conveys spiritual purity and inner resilience. Lapis lazuli, with its deep blue and sky-blue hues, symbolises spiritual illumination and the loftiness of thought. Culturally, this colour is associated with the image of the Virgin Mary — a symbol of protection, tranquillity, and inner enlightenment. The facets of the stones create a visual image and at the same time evoke the facets of words, for just as a craftsman reveals the light within a mineral, so a poetess refines a thought, giving it clarity, power, and form.

Against a backdrop of lapis lazuli, a silvery image of Ukraine unfolds — stylised fields, rivers, and mountain contours rendered in delicate relief. Storks soar above this landscape, one of the most powerful national symbols of home, remembrance, and return. These birds stand as the words of Lesya Ukrainka, rising above the earth and carrying her voice through time and space. Arranged on different levels, they create a sense of movement and airiness, as though the poetry itself were taking flight.

Meticulous silverwork, precise portraiture, a complex multi-material design, and jeweller’s mastery in stone-setting unite the art of jewellery with a symbolic narrative. In this composition, every element serves a single purpose — to portray Lesya Ukrainka as a source of spiritual light, the power of the word, and national memory. Her portrait becomes a vessel for her poetry, in which stone, metal, and form resonate as an extension of the voice of this outstanding Ukrainian writer.