LOT 0208

Large Veneto-Byzantine Gold Signet Ring with 'I Save from Danger' Inscription

CIRCA 14TH-15TH CENTURY A.D.

1 in. (16.55 grams, 25.91 mm overall, 20.50 x 18.21 mm internal diameter (approximate size British S 1/2, USA 9 1/4, Europe 20.63, Japan 19)).

With broad carinated hoop, low-relief monogram to each shoulder ('K' and 'A'); discoid bezel with central lion rampant and two concentric bands of text: outer (retrograde) - '+ΔA COCO AΠO KVNAINOHTOYA' (I save from danger); inner (sinistrograde) -'+XPICOC KOCMH ΔAKTHO KAI ΨIKI ΛΟΓH' (Gold adorns the finger and soul and mind).

Acquired from Derek Content, 9 March 1983.
Private collection of Kal Noselson, New York, acquired between 1976 and the late 1990s; thence by descent.

Accompanied by an original invoice from Derek Content, 9 March 1983.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13406- 259827.

Cf. Ross, M.C., Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Medieval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Vol.II, Jewelry, Enamels, and Art of the Migration Period, Washington, 1965, no.131; Taylor, G-Scarisbrick, D., Finger Rings from Ancient Egypt to the Present Day, Oxford, 1978, no.457; also Wamser, L., Die Welt von Byzanz - Europas Östliches Erbe, München, 2004, item 676, 678, for type.

This massive ring is a good example of how inscriptions in jewellery became more prominent during Late Byzantium. Here, the inscription is particularly developed and combines various functions, partially expressed in the concentric arrangement of the decoration. The Frankish style is reflected by the heraldic lion at the centre of the bezel, while the Eastern Roman component is strongly visible in the decoration of the shoulders.