Byzantine Silver Ring with Blue Spinel Cabochon

Bifacial amulet with chipped rim; obverse: St George with cross on horseback overcoming a dragon; reverse: mary and Infant Jesus flanked by angels. 5.4 grams, 28 mm



From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.

Comprising a flat-section hoop with a starburst motif to the base; openwork shoulders and a square bezel with a pellet to each corner, the bezel engraved with foliate motifs. 3.65 grams, 19.99 mm overall, 18.00 mm internal diameter (approximate size British L, USA 5 3/4, Europe 11.24, Japan 10)



Acquired from London galleries during the 1990s. From the jewellery collection of a London, UK, gentleman. Accompanied by a previous typed cataloguing card.

Some rings from the Balkan territories of the Eastern Empire (for example the ring from Dobrača) bear a square thickened bezel engraved with schematic representations. What sets them apart are the widened shoulders emphasised by a plastic rib and the raised and flattened head, which places them in the group of rings which dates mainly to the 11th century (from the end of the 10th to the first decades of the 12th century).

Comprising a D-section shank, scooped shoulders with stepped spurs, rectangular bezel with inset blue spinel. 3.76 grams, 23.89 mm overall, 17.89 mm internal diameter (approximate size British M, USA 6, Europe 12.46, Japan 12)



Ex Hansons, Derby, UK. Private Buckingham, UK, collection.