CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA LATE 5TH-EARLY 4TH CENTURY B.C.

This exceptionally fine Greek ring is cast from pure gold, essentially 24-carat. The solid hoop is flat on the interior; the exterior bisected by a carinated ridge along its length. Where the shoulders meet the pointed oval bezel there is a stylized head of a griffin, a rare feature. That a griffin is intended can be confirmed by comparison to a later Etruscan red-figured amphora from the Campana Collection, now in the Louvre, which has similar griffin heads where the handles meet the neck, and feline paws where they meet the shoulders. A gold ring from Catania, Sicily, now in London, has similar but more stylized griffin heads (no. 1068 in F.H. Marshall, Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Greek, Etruscan & Roman, in the Departments of Antiquities, British Museum).

The scene of Herakles on the pointed oval bezel is expertly chased. The hero stands in contrapposto with his weight on his left leg, his right at ease, his right arm resting on the top of the handle of his club. In his left hand he holds a phiale mesomphalos above a thymiaterion. He is depicted nude, revealing his robust musculature, but for the Nemean lion skin worn knotted around his neck, its head projecting back with two paws coiled around his right arm. The curved groundline is unusual. The pose is probably derived from a sculptural prototype, known from several variations (see Boardman, "Herakles," in LIMC, vol. IV, pls. 463-470). For the subject more summarily depicted on another gold ring now in the Getty Museum, see no. 76 in Boardman, Intaglios and Rings.