A GREEK GOLD AND AMETHYST FINGER RING

LATE HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.

Details

A GREEK GOLD AND AMETHYST FINGER RING
LATE HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.
With a plain hollow hoop, round in section, expanding at the shoulders and merging with the high oval box bezel, with a broad, flat upper edge centered by a lip enclosing a large convex amethyst, engraved with Eros walking to the left on a short groundline, depicted as a nude paunchy boy, one wing upraised, holding a bow in one hand, a fillet hanging from its upper end, a butterfly on the ground before him
1 1/8 in. (2.8 cm.) wide; ring size 5

Provenance

Private Collection, Germany, 1980s.
Acquired by the current owner, New York, 1999.

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Lot Essay

Eros was an immensely popular subject on gems during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The god is most frequently depicted as a young boy or an infant, engaged in a variety of activities. He is sometimes paired with his love, Psyche, either represented as a young woman with butterfly wings or, as here, as a butterfly herself. For an engraved garnet, also from the 1st century B.C., with Eros depicted in a similar style, see the example in the Hermitage, no. 540 in D. Plantzos, Hellenistic Engraved Gems. For the composition of Eros approaching a butterfly on the ground before him, see the agate and the garnet ringstones, nos. 243 and 244 in M. Maaskant-Kleibrink, Catalogue of the Engraved Gems in the Royal Coin Cabinet, The Hague.

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