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Details
LOT 0303
Langobardic Gold Bishop's Ring with Amethyst
7TH-8TH CENTURY AD.
1 3/8 in. (11.38 grams, 34.70 mm overall, 17.74 mm internal diameter (approximate size British M 1/2, USA 6 1/4, Europe 13.09, Japan 12)).
A finely crafted ring featuring a prominent square bezel adorned with stylised crucifixes, flanked by outward-facing birds with hooked beaks and large ring-and-dot eyes, the bezel set with a polished amethyst pebble; keeled decorative hoop with three integral collars at the base.
Provenance
Private English collection, formed between the late 1970s and early 1990s.
Private collection, UK.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12983-245992.
Literature
See a closely related ring in the Griffin Collection, currently on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, object no. L.2015.72.36; see also a gold ring with similar bird motifs in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, accession no. 615-1871; see Musée d’Archéologie nationale, Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, inventory no.MAN87191, for a ring featuring a tall, square bezel set with a chrysoprase and having a similar shank, excavated from a 7th-century burial beneath the Basilica of Saint-Denis.
Footnotes
The Langobards (or Lombards) were a Germanic people who invaded and ruled much of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774 AD. Their kingdom, known for its fusion of Germanic and Byzantine artistic traditions, persisted until the Carolingian conquest under Charlemagne.
A Bishop’s ring is a large, often ornate ring worn by bishops as a symbol of their office and spiritual authority. Traditionally, it signifies the bishop’s commitment to the Church and is considered a mark of his episcopal dignity.
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LOT 0303
Langobardic Gold Bishop's Ring with Amethyst
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000€17,400 - 23,200 (for guidance only)$20,250 - 27,000 (for guidance only)
RELATED LOTS
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Visigothic Bronze Bird Brooch
6th-8th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
Comprising: headplate formed as two addorsed bird-heads on arched necks, each with a discoid eye and hooked beak beneath; vrow bow with median band and chip-carved edges; bow-sided foot with chip-carved ornament, bird-head finial with eye and hooked beak; remains of ferrous pin to reverse, catchplate. 10 grams, 55 mm
Ex European collection, 1990s. Ex Cambridgeshire, UK, collection. -
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Langobardic Gold Bishop's Ring with Amethyst
7th-8th century AD.Estimate: £15,000 - 20,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £7,500
A finely crafted ring featuring a prominent square bezel adorned with stylised crucifixes, flanked by outward-facing birds with hooked beaks and large ring-and-dot eyes, the bezel set with a polished amethyst pebble; keeled decorative hoop with three integral collars at the base. 11.38 grams, 34.70 mm overall, 17.74 mm internal diameter (approximate size British M 1/2, USA 6 1/4, Europe 13.09, Japan 12)
Private English collection, formed between the late 1970s and early 1990s. Private collection, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12983-245992.
The Langobards (or Lombards) were a Germanic people who invaded and ruled much of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774 AD. Their kingdom, known for its fusion of Germanic and Byzantine artistic traditions, persisted until the Carolingian conquest under Charlemagne. A Bishop’s ring is a large, often ornate ring worn by bishops as a symbol of their office and spiritual authority. Traditionally, it signifies the bishop’s commitment to the Church and is considered a mark of his episcopal dignity. -
Dark Age Gold Filigree Decorated Element
7th century A.D. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £293
Comprising: bronze blade fixed into a sheet-gold sleeve with applied beaded wire scrolls to obverse, impressed saltire to reverse; four radiating longitudinal bars with corrugated ornament; bronze granule cluster as a finial. 5.55 grams, 57 mm
Private English collection, formed between the late 1970s and early 1990s. Private collection, UK.
The delicate nature of the piece and its decoration in the round make is likely that it is an element of jewellery or perhaps the shank of a key.
