A superb quality gold signet ring with slender hoop and ellipsoid bezel; the shoulders modelled in relief with black enamelled scrolled detailing continuing to the scooped sides of the bezel and onto a scrolled cross motif to the underside; the bezel a cell with raised rim and inset Roman, 2nd century AD, nicolo intaglio of a horse advancing on a baseline with head lowered.

PROVENANCE:
Property of a Harwich, UK, lady; previously with an Aldeburgh, Suffolk, UK, gentleman; formerly with an Aldeburgh lady, part of her old jewellery collection since the early 1960s; accompanied by an expertise by Dr. Raffaele D’Amato and an independent specialist report and valuation by graduate gemmologist and jewellery expert Anna Rogers, GIA GG, BA, Gem-A, ref. no. 174779/24/03/2021; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10649-174779.

LITERATURE:
Cf. Chadour, A.B., Rings. The Alice and Louis Koch Collection, volume I, Leeds, 1994, items 787,790, for type, and 321, for the gemstone; Frumusa, G., ‘Gemme inedite da scavo della Valle d’Aosta’ in Pallas, 83, 2010, pp.35-54; Scarisbrick, D., Rings, jewelry of power, love and loyalty, London, 2013, figs.253,254, for the type; see also Provincia di Venezia, Piccolo Mondo Antico, la collezione glittica Torcellana, Venezia, 2014.

FOOTNOTES:
The style and technique of the ring seem to be English and date to the mid-late 17th century. The theme of a horse grazing was widely employed on Roman gemstones (see Chadour, 1994, nn.146,403; Frumusa, 2010, fig.2), and the nicolo was often employed in rings of the 2nd century AD (Chadour, 1994, nn.289, 292-293, 298-300). A similar engraving from a 2nd century gemstone inserted to a later ring is visible in the Koch collection (Chadour, 1994, n.321). The horse motif had various associations, as the animal was central to almost every aspect of the Roman world: agriculture, war, travel and medicine.
The horse was sacred to Poseidon-Neptune, the god of the sea. Wearing a ring with an incised stallion could bring the owner elements of divine prophylaxis.