Lot Essay
This striking Greek gold finger ring is quite rare for its form and ornamentation. The present example features a square flat bezel rather than the more typical box bezel of pointed oval form (see the example in the British Museum with a nude woman standing at a pillar, no. 217.7 in J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings, and another in Leiden with a crouching Eros, no. 12bis in R.A. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Antieke Sier, Goud en zilver van Grieken en Romeinen). It shares with the two cited examples a sheet gold figure in relief, as well as similar elaborate ornamentation, including a frame of filigree beaded, plain and spiral wire.
On the ring presented here, the goddess Cybele is enthroned within an Ionic naiskos. She is holding a phiale and a scepter and is framed by a seated lion on either side. The scene is framed by rosettes at the corners. The hoop is formed of two spiral-twisted wires with a beaded wire along the exterior join, tapering at each end and inserted into lion-head terminals that bite onto the bezel.
On the ring presented here, the goddess Cybele is enthroned within an Ionic naiskos. She is holding a phiale and a scepter and is framed by a seated lion on either side. The scene is framed by rosettes at the corners. The hoop is formed of two spiral-twisted wires with a beaded wire along the exterior join, tapering at each end and inserted into lion-head terminals that bite onto the bezel.