Byzantine Gold Marriage Ring with Busts

6TH-8TH CENTURY A.D.

7/8 in. (6.47 grams, 21.52 mm overall, 19.27 mm internal diameter (approximate size British O, USA 7, Europe 14.98, Japan 14)).

With hoop formed as a band of quatrefoils, applied discoid bezel with facing busts flanking a cross potent, legend 'OMO / NOIA' (harmony).

Provenance

Acquired on the London art market in the late 1980s-1990s.
From the family collection of an East London, UK, gentleman.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate no.12350-222584

Literature

Cf. similar subject in a ring of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accessory no.63.1555; see also The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Romans and Barbarians, Boston, 1976, p.179, no.202.

Footnotes

The marriage ring is one of the typologies on which figural decorations are frequently found. Generally marriage rings are engraved with a representation of the husband and wife, sometimes accompanied by Christ, and usually engraved with wishes for 'harmony, health and the grace of God'. Rings of this type had been used since the late 4th century A.D. and remained extremely popular in Byzantium in the 6th and 7th century.

CONDITION

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LOT 0200