LATE HELLENISTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2ND-1ST CENTURY B.C.

This ring takes the form of two serpents forming a broad hoop composed of rows of plain and beaded wire. The serpent heads protrude on one edge, their bodies looped, while their tails coil outward along the other edge. A lozenge-shaped garnet in a dog-tooth bezel embellishes the hoop, framed by a band of beaded wire, with an ivy leaf on either side. For a similar example at the Museum of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (inv. no. 56.505), see p. 31 in E. Fontenay, Les bijoux anciens et modernes.