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LOT 0091
Etruscan Silver Ring with Amethyst Scarab Seal
4TH CENTURY B.C.
1 1/8 in. (5.44 grams, 30.77 mm overall, 25.27 mm internal diameter (approximate size British W, USA 11, Europe 25, Japan 24)).
Wire hoop with ends wound round the shank at each shoulder with one end detached, swivel-mounted amethyst scarab seal with flat underside, segmented border around a dolphin with putto mounted on its back.
ProvenanceFrom the private collection of Mr K.A., acquired in the 1990s-early 2000s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Cf. Chadour, A.B., Rings. The Alice and Louis Koch Collection, volume I, Leeds, 1994, item 43, for type; cf. also Torelli, M., Gli Etruschi, Monza, 2000, p.455, for similar.
FootnotesEgyptian-style scarabs and scaraboids were characteristic of Etruscan art from the 8th century B.C. Originally made in Phoenicia, Cyprus or Rhodes, these objects were made of faience, blue paste, glass paste and bone, or semi-precious stones of varying hardness, from steatite to quartz, onyx and jasper. Mounted in settings on revolving pendants of precious metal, which were later imitated by Etruscan goldsmiths, these Egyptianising items performed prophylactic-religious functions, through the use of sacred or magical imagery taken from hieroglyphic language: royal names or titles, theonyms, sacred symbols, and auspicious formulas.
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Black-glazed body and matching lid decorated with two heads of ladies of fashion, palmettes between, radial foliage motif on the knob handle and a hatching around the rim. 144 grams, 90 mm wide
From the private collection of a Canadian gentleman living in Essex, UK, formed since the 1920s-circa 1990. Property of an Essex lady until the late 1990s; thence by descent. From the private collection of an Essex gentleman since the late 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato. -
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