Byzantine Gold Marriage Ring

CIRCA 6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.

1 in. (9.62 grams, 23.93 mm overall, 18.92 mm internal diameter (approximate size British R 1/2, USA 8 3/4, Europe 19.38, Japan 18)).

D-section hoop with expanding shoulders, trumpet-shaped bezel with two facing busts and a cross between and a nimbate bearded bust above, legend 'OMONOIA' (harmony) below.

Provenance

From an important Byzantine collection, formed in the 1970s, Surrey, UK.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13347-258734.

Literature

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.

Footnotes

The 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.

CONDITION

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LOT 0184