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Details
LOT 0111
Greek Gold Ring Engraved with Goddess Nike
5TH-4TH CENTURY B.C.
1 in. (9.61 grams, 23.23 mm overall, 18.22 mm internal diameter (approximate size British L 1/2, USA 6, Europe 11.87, Japan 11)).
Comprising a round-section U-shaped hoop and a lentoid-shaped bezel bearing the image of flying Nike with her wings spread and wearing a long dress, leaving her feet exposed.
Provenance
Focquaert collection, Belgium, 1980s.
European private collection, 2012.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13020-246779.
Literature
Cf. Boardman, J., Greek Gems and Finger Rings, Early Bronze Age to Late Classical, London, 1970 (2001), nos.754, 771-772, 775-777, 787, 797, 806, for the iconography of Nike on the Greek rings, and especially 658.
Footnotes
The ring belongs to the typology I of Boardman’s classification (Boardman, 2001, p.213). One of the subjects usually represented on this ring type is the flying Nike. A similar flying Nike is visible on a gold ring found in grave 17 of the Nymphaeum, and it is today preserved at the Hermitage.
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