A EUROPEAN BANDED AGATE RING STONE

CIRCA 18TH-19TH CENTURY

Details

A EUROPEAN BANDED AGATE RING STONE
CIRCA 18TH-19TH CENTURY
The bevelled oval stone deeply engraved with a bearded comic mask, the grimacing face fringed with an unruly beard, the open mouth revealing the upper row of teeth, inscribed below in Greek, SKYL; mounted as a ring in a gold setting, with a band of black enamel around the bezel
7/8 in. (2.2 cm.) long; ring size 11½

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 5 June 1998, lot 217.

Lot Essay

The inscription SKYL indicates the signature of the Roman Period gem engraver Skylax. This is likely one of numerous copies of a seventeenth century amethyst ring stone with a bearded mask of Pan and a forged Skylax signature, once in the collection of Baron Stosch and the Duc de Blacas, now in the British Museum. For a similar example and an analysis of the type and related literature, see no. 52 in Spier, A Catalogue of the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection of Gems.

More from Ancient Jewelry

View All