Object Description
Ca. AD 100-300
A Roman dark stone intaglio engraved with a scene of a winged God. The god holds a trident and is seated on the deck of a galley, with a head-shaped stern and oars in the water. The intaglio is set in an oval-shaped bezel of a possibly later gold ring, comprising a round hoop with twisted decoration. For similar, see Christie’s Live Auction 5100, Antiquities, 8th December 1993, Lot 27.
The lavish use of gold jewellery was not considered socially acceptable during the Roman Republican period and was even barred through sumptuary laws such as Lex Oppia (215 BC), which forbade any woman to possess more than half an ounce of gold. From the Augustan period onwards, these restrictions became more relaxed, and costly gold jewellery was made in large quantities in a style heavily influenced by Etruscan and Late Hellenistic artistic traditions.
Size: D: 17.13mm / US: 6 3/4 / UK: N 1/2 ; 6.67g