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Etruscan Silver Ring with Amethyst Scarab Seal Etruscan Silver Ring with Amethyst Scarab Seal Etruscan Silver Ring with Amethyst Scarab Seal Etruscan Silver Ring with Amethyst Scarab Seal Etruscan Silver Ring with Amethyst Scarab Seal Etruscan Silver Ring with Amethyst Scarab Seal
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Details

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.

Provenance

From 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.

Literature

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.

Footnotes

Egyptian-style scarabs and scaraboids were characteristic of Etruscan art from the 8th century B.C. Originally made in Phoenicia, Cyprus or Rhodes, these objects were made of faience, blue paste, glass paste and bone, or semi-precious stones of varying hardness, from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.

CONDITION
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LOT 0091

Etruscan Silver Ring with Amethyst Scarab Seal

Sold for (Inc. bp): £546

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