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.