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_900x900.jpg "Byzantine Gold Marriage Ring with Busts")
_200x200.jpg "Byzantine Gold Marriage Ring with Busts")
.jpg "Byzantine Gold Marriage Ring with Busts")
LOT 0208
Byzantine Gold Marriage Ring with Busts
CIRCA 6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.
1 in. (13.76 grams, 25.37 mm overall, 18.77 mm internal diameter (approximate size British Q, USA 8, Europe 17.49, Japan 16)).
D-section hoop with carination, flat chamfered shoulders each with an engraved cross moline within a wreath; trumpet-shaped bezel with two facing busts and processional cross between, the bodies with inset carnelian studs; legend 'OMONOIA' (harmony) below.
ProvenanceFrom the collection of a late English gentleman, 1990s.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13047-248619.
Cf. similar subject in a ring from Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no.63.1555; see also The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Romans and Barbarians, Boston, 1976, p.179, no.202; Chadour, A.B., Rings. The Alice and Louis Koch Collection, volume I, Leeds, 1994, item 489, for type.
FootnotesThe marriage ring is one of the typologies in which figural decorations are frequently found. Generally speaking, marriage rings are engraved with a representation of a 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 centuries.
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Byzantine Bronze Ring with Warrior Saint
12th-13th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Hoop with angled shoulders, hexagonal bezel with a stylised nimbate warrior holding a long spear and a shield. 3.24 grams, 21.62 mm overall, 18.18 mm internal diameter (approximate size British Q, USA 8, Europe 17.49, Japan 16)
Acquired on the UK and EU art market before 2000. From the private collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.
The bronze ring is compactly worked from a single bar. The hoop, hemispherical in section, broadens at the top, where the hexagonal ring bezel was hammered. The decoration inscribed in the hexagon shows a military saint in the upper field, 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. -
Byzantine 'Greek Fire' Ceramic Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
Piriform in profile with a band of impressed annulets on the shoulder; intended to be filled with explosive liquid and a wick, and used as a hand grenade. 533 grams, 11.9 cm
From a specialist collection, London, UK, 1990-2000s. Accompanied by an academic paper by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato, dated 15 July 2019 and titled 'Eastern Roman Empire - Greek Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade (μεσαίον kακάβιον) 9th-11th century AD'.
Apart from the use of siphons or manual flame-throwers called cheirosiphona, special corps of Roman soldiers employed terracotta grenades, in the form of small jars, abundantly evidenced in archaeological excavations. They were called μεσαία kακαβιά or κυτροκακάβια, where the former had a bulbous shape and the latter a more cylindrical form. -
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Byzantine Bronze Ring with Scrolls
Circa 10th-12th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
Comprising a wide, keeled band with a flat plaque on each shoulder, raised bezel with a discoid plaque decorated with scroll motifs. 7.46 grams, 30.65 mm overall, 19.57 mm internal diameter (approximate size British R, USA 8 1/2, Europe 18 3/4, Japan 18)
Acquired on the UK art market before 2000. Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.
