A flat-section hoop with applied wire borders scrolled to the upper ends, groups of four granules to the shank; cell with beaded wire rim to each shoulder with inset cabochon garnet; broad discoid gold cell with beaded wire border and filigree running scroll to the outer edge; inset blue glass cabochon with remains of applied detailing.

PROVENANCE:
From an old Oriental collection. Supplied with a positive X-Ray Fluorescence metal analysis certificate.

LITERATURE:
Cf. Menghin, W. The Merovingian Period. Europe Without Borders, Berlin, 2007, item VII.7.2; Taylor, G. & Scarisbrick, D. Finger Rings from Ancient Egypt to the Present Day, Oxford, 1978, item 222.

FOOTNOTES:
This large and lavishly decorated ring which uses filigree decoration and inset stones, imitates Byzantine styles coming from Constantinople, a centre of artistic styles that radiated across Europe and beyond. In the fifth and sixth centuries there was a notable development in the techniques applied on jewellery with more imaginative shapes and polychrome decoration enriched with precious stones which was partly influenced by the east. The stone set into this ring could be blue porphyry, a stone that was expensive to mine and, along with purple porphyry, was associated with the Byzantine emperor; as such it would have been worn by a local ruler who would have imitated the rulers of the most influential empire at the time.