Byzantine Bronze Ring with Spread Eagle

Fragment of a figure carved in the half-round, with pleated garment, holding a book with a cross in the left hand and touching its edge with the right hand; to the reverse, a low-relief cross with knops to the angles, abbreviated legends 'IC / XC / NI / KA' for 'Jesus Christ is Victorious' in seriffed capitals in the spandrels of the cross, each with a superscript macron. 38 grams, 40 mm



New Forest, UK, collection, 1950s. Alexander Cotton collection, UK, 1970-1980s. London gallery 1990s, latterly a London gentleman's collection, 2000s. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12912-244440.

This magnificent, if fragmentary, icon belongs to the most florid period of Byzantium’s renaissance, when, under the aegis of the Macedonian Dynasty, the political, military, cultural and economic power of the Roman Empire reached the last apex of its glory. The figure detailed in bloodstone here represents Christ, as is clear not only from the cross engraved on the back, but also from the garments he is wearing. It is likely that it is Christ as Pantocrator who is represented, maybe originally forming part of a more complex icon representing the Deesis. While this subject in Eastern Roman art is usually reserved for monumental decoration, it is sometimes found on smaller-scale objects as well, such as cameos and steatite icons.

Comprising a flat-section body composed of intersecting rings and pellets, turreted bezel with carinated body set with a polished jasper cabochon, incuse image of a tower with flanking palm trees. 6.43 grams, 28.80 mm overall, 17.80 mm internal diameter (approximate size British O, USA 7 1/2, Europe 17.5, Japan 14).



Ex K collection, London, 1990s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12969-246373.

Cruciform with integral loop; obverse with low-relief Corpus Christi in stavrosis pose with radiating strokes. 9.65 grams, 47 mm



Ex Den of Antiquity, Cambridge, UK. From the private collection of a West London, UK, gentleman, formed since the early 2000s. Accompanied by a typed dealer's identification ticket.