拍品专文
Fides was the goddess of loyalty, trust and honesty. Here she is depicted frontally, holding her attributes two sheaves of wheat and a full patera; to one side is an ant. The subject was popular on gems and also frequently employed on the reverses of Imperial coins (see for example a gold aureus from the reign of Marcus Aurelius, pl. 95, no. 331, in J.P.C. Kent, Roman Coins). The gem is mounted as a ring in a 18th century gold setting; the shoulder inscribed in red ink with the number 40, which corresponds with the Story-Maskelyne catalog of the Marlborough collection as well as the lot number in the 1899 sale at Christie’s. In J. Boardman, et al. (op. cit.), it was suggested that this gem was previously published by Lippert, from the collection of Baron von Gleichen, but that gem is in Munich (pl. 228, no. 2504 in E. Brandt, et al., Antike Gemmen in Deutschen Sammlungen, Band I, Staatliche Münzsammlung, München, Teil 3).