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Details
LOT 0709
Roman Bronze Ring with Amethyst Gemstone
2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.
3/4 in. (3.33 grams, 20.86 mm overall, 14.24 mm internal diameter (approximate size British G, USA 3 1/4, Europe 4.92, Japan 4)).
Comprising a D-section hoop with raised shoulders, rectangular bezel set with an amethyst intaglio engraved with an advancing bird. [No Reserve]
Provenance
Acquired on the UK art market before 2000.
Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Literature
Cf. for bird on ring Henig, M., ‘The gemstones and other jewellery’, in B.Cunliffe, Excavations at Fishbourne, 1961-1969, II. The Finds, Society of Antiquaries of London. Research Report XXXVII, Leeds. 1971, pp. 83-92, pl.XVIII, no.3.
Footnotes
Birds were often involved in the religious life of Greeks and Romans. For example, the foundation ceremony of a city had fixed rules, involving the augurs’ interpretation of allegedly divine omens, such as the flight patterns of birds. Birds were often used for children’s rings: from the villa or palace of Fishbourne, Sussex, came a gold child’s ring containing a diminutive chrome chalcedony engraved with a bird.
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