LOT 1116

Byzantine Bronze Ring with Saints

12TH-13TH CENTURY A.D.

1 in. (5.33 grams, 25.53 mm overall, 21.73 mm internal diameter (approximate size British O 1/2, USA 7 1/4, Europe 15.61, Japan 15)).

Comprising a D-section hoop and a hexagonal bezel with two stylised figures flanking a cross. [No Reserve]

Acquired on the UK and EU art market before 2000.
From the private collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.

See Teicu, D., Arta Minoră Medievală din Banat (Minor Medieval Art in Banat), Timisoara, 2009, pls.17,2 and 20,6, for type and iconography.

The bronze ring is compactly worked from a single bar. The ring link, hemispherical in section, broadens at the top, where the ring bezel was hammered. The decoration inscribed in the hexagon shows in the upper field a military saint, surrounded by lines running parallel to the hexagon, which form a further decorative element. The bezel of these rings was decorated with stylised images, very often military saints, who were asked for protection and blessing. They are usually represented as one or two human figures, schematically depicted, inscribed in a circle, decorating the bezel.