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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.
ProvenanceFocquaert 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.
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.
FootnotesThe 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.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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The intaglio can depict Capaneus, a legendary, strong, skilled, but arrogant warrior. He was one of the Seven Against Thebes, who boasted that not even Zeus could stop him from scaling the city walls. However, as he climbed them, Zeus struck him down with a bolt of lightning, illustrating divine punishment for his hubris. Evadne, his wife, then threw herself onto the funerary pyre in her grief. The story of strength but excessive pride was reflected in Dante's Inferno, where Capaneus is in the seventh circle as a condemned blasphemer.