LOT 0100

Roman Gold Rings for a Married Couple with Nicolo Bust Gemstones

2ND CENTURY A.D.

3 3/4 in. (12.83 grams total, 20.25 mm overall, 15.50 mm internal diameter (approximate size British G, USA 3 1/4, Europe 4.92, Japan 4) 20.86 mm overall, 16.35 mm internal diameter (approximate size British H, USA 3 3/4, Europe 6.18, Japan 6)).

Comprising two matching solid hoops with expanding shoulders, each set with a dark blue nicolo intaglio, one bearing a profile bust of a young Hercules, and the other with a profile bust of a woman wearing a taenia or a wreath on her head. [2]

From the private collection of the late A.B., London, UK; acquired before 1989.

Accompanied from an archaeological report of Dr. Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12006-213034.

Cf. variant 3, type I, of the Ruseva-Slokoska classification of gold rings with gemstones, see Ruseva-Slokoska, L., Roman Jewellery, Sofia, 1991, p.170 no.192; cf. similar artefact in the Koch collection, in Chadour, A.B., Rings. The Alice and Louis Koch Collection, volume I, Leeds, 1994, item 226; Gołyźniak, P., Engraved Gems and Propaganda in the Roman Republic and under Augustus, Oxford, 2020, figs.22-23, pl.6.2, for similar profiles.

The iconography here is simple, possibly referring to a married couple, or to important public persons. The 5th century Roman writer Macrobius wrote that the engagement ring was worn on the fourth finger. Legend has it that the vena amoris, literally the ‘vein of love’, ran from the heart to the fourth finger of the left hand. Gemstones and fancy embellishments have been found in Roman rings of every age, although usually for engagement or wedding rings the iconography of clasped hands, symbolising the ‘fides’ among the spouses, was used. Intaglio portraits were engraved into a large variety of stones but nicolo, carnelian and red jasper were generally the most popular for imperial portraits or for the members of the imperial family.