CIRCA 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D.

Ceres (Demeter to the Greeks) was a Roman goddess of agriculture, fertility and motherly relationships. Here she is depicted enthroned, wearing a long tunic, a mantle and a crescentic diadem. In her outstretched hand she holds two sheaves of wheat and a poppy (symbolic of her daughter Proserpina), and rests her other hand on the edge of her throne. The subject was also employed on coins (see for example the reverse of a silver denarius minted by Titus, no. 33 in L. Breglia, Roman Imperial Coins). A different fertility goddess, identified by the inscription as Ops, sits in exactly the same pose on a similarly elaborate throne on a gold aureus minted by Pertinax (pl. 107, no. 368 in J.P.C. Kent, Roman Coins), but the presence of the poppy held by our goddess should confirm that Ceres was intended. The gem is mounted as a ring in an 18th century gold setting.