Details

LOT 0126

Eastern Roman Gold Ring with Duck Gemstone

4TH-5TH CENTURY A.D.

1 in. (3.85 grams, 23.13 mm overall, 18.91 mm internal diameter (approximate size British Q 1/2, USA 8 1/4, Europe 18.12, Japan 17)).

Comprising a flat-section hoop and a raised rectangular bezel, the tapering bezel set with a garnet intaglio engraved with a standing duck; supplied with a museum-quality impression.

Provenance

Private English collection.
Private collection, London, UK.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12940-245981.

Literature

Cf. Spier, J., Ancient gems and finger rings: catalogue of the collections, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1992, p. 60, no. 116, for a similarly shaped intaglio (probably from a ring) with a duck motif, dated to the 4th century BC and thought to have Persian influence. For the ring shape and discussion, see Ogden, J.M., Gold Jewellery in Ptolemaic, Roman and Byzantine Egypt, 2 vols. PhD thesis, Durham, 1990, V.1, p. 136; V.2, p. 38, fig. 156.