A PAIR OF FRENCH BRONZE SERPENTS, FIRST HALF 19TH CENTURY

Ordre National des Pharmaciens, Paris

This pair of sinuous bronze serpents originally hung outside L’Ordre National des Pharmaciens, which moved from Square de Luynes, 7éme, to l'Hôtel Gaston Menier, av Ruysdaël, 8éme, in 1953, after which they were dismounted and at some stage converted to lamps.

The device of a snake entwined around the Bowl of Hygeiea, or the Rod of Asclepius, has been used as a symbol of the pharmacy profession since at least 1796, when it was used on a coin minted for the Parisian Society of Pharmacy, L’Ordre National des Pharmaciens.