A Late Hellenistic Gold and Emerald Finger Ring, circa 1st Century B.C.
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A Late Hellenistic Gold and Emerald Finger Ring, circa 1st Century B.C.
the box-like bezel set with a convex oblong emerald and finely decorated with beading along the edges and granulated lozenges along the sides, the elaborate hoop composed of twin plain wires meeting in a Herakles knot and centering a twisted leaf-shaped wire.
gold and emerald
1⅜ by ⅞in.
3.6 by 2.3 cm
approx. size 7
Galerie Bachstitz, The Hague and Berlin, inv. no 392 (RKD, Netherlands Institute for Art History, Record 110120242);
Walter Tower Rosen (1875-1951), New York, acquired from the above, June 5th, 1926;
By descent to his daughter Anne Bigelow Rosen Stern, New York and Maine (Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, Thomaston, Maine, 2016 Spring Feature Auction, May 21st, 2016, lot 210, illus.);
Where acquired by the present collector.
Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, July 2016 to August 2026
Robert Zahn, ed., Sammlungen der Galerie Bachstitz, vol. II, Berlin, 1921, no. 57, pp. 16-17, pl. 2
The present ring belongs to a distinctive group of Hellenistic gold finger rings characterized by their architectural construction and prominent rectangular bezel. Particularly striking is the elaborate openwork setting, enriched with finely executed granulation and geometric filigree ornament. The carefully balanced interplay between the substantial bezel and the delicately worked hoop demonstrates the exceptional technical sophistication achieved by Hellenistic goldsmiths. Surviving examples of this type are rare and are today preserved in a number of major museum collections. Related examples are in the Louvre (A. de Ridder, Catalogue sommaire des bijoux antiques, 1924, p. 103, no. 1148: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010255696), the Dallas Museum of Art (B. Deppert-Lippitz, Ancient Gold Jewelry, 1996, p. 140, no. 81: https://dma.org/art/collection/object/3292829), the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (T. Hackens, Classical Jewelry, 1976, no. 38: https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection/finger-ring-22230), the Museo Nazionale, Naples, from Canosa in Southern Italy (R. Siviero, Gli ori e le ambre del Museo Nazionale di Napoli, 1954, p. 38, no. 115, pls. 118-119), and the State Museums, Berlin (A. Greifenhagen, Staatliche Museen Berlin. Schmuckarbeiten in Edelmetall, vol. 2, 1975, p. 76, pl. 57, no. 12).
On both the Louvre and Dallas examples, the bezel is set with a garnet surmounted by a convex layer of rock crystal. The stone of the Naples example is variously described as emerald or green agate/plasma. The bezel of the Rhode Island example is made of glass.
