Byzantine Bronze Ring with Marbled Red Glass Cabochon

Comprising a flat-section hoop with a starburst motif to the base; openwork shoulders and a square bezel with a pellet to each corner, the bezel engraved with foliate motifs. 3.65 grams, 19.99 mm overall, 18.00 mm internal diameter (approximate size British L, USA 5 3/4, Europe 11.24, Japan 10)



Acquired from London galleries during the 1990s. From the jewellery collection of a London, UK, gentleman. Accompanied by a previous typed cataloguing card. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Some rings from the Balkan territories of the Eastern Empire (for example the ring from Dobrača) bear a square thickened bezel engraved with schematic representations. What sets them apart are the widened shoulders emphasised by a plastic rib and the raised and flattened head, which places them in the group of rings which dates mainly to the 11th century (from the end of the 10th to the first decades of the 12th century).

With inscription '+ΘKEB / OΘTO / ΔΟΛΟ / ΤΘΛΑ' for 'ΘΕΟΤΟΚΕ ΒΟΗΘΕΛ ΤΩ ΔΟΥΛΩ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΛΑΔΕ' (Mother of God, help Lades, the servant of God). 13.1 grams, 18 mm



From an important collection formed before 1988, London and Geneva. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Hollow-formed with applied filigree collars to shank and base of horns, bulbs with horns and granule clusters; one bulb detached. 91 grams total, 72-75 mm



Ex German art market, 2000s. Acquired from an EU collector living in London. From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.