Ring with Agate
, Roman, 3rd century AD
Ring with Agate
Description
Magnificent Roman gold agate Ring
Gold ring with small rectangular base, and hoop widening towards the angular, fan-shaped shoulders with fluted, palmette-like ornament. The ends support the oval bezel with high cone-shaped agate set in a rounded collet and dark brown, grey-blue, orangey brown banding. The ring shows signs of wear through age and is in good wearable condition.
Literature:
The Romans showed a preference for gemstones in jewelry, and through the expansion of the Roman Empire and faraway trade routes these became readily available. In Antiquity agates, like in this ring, would have come from Sicily, Egypt, or India, see: Rui Galopim de Carvalho, Gempedia, Bangkok-Lisbon 2024, p. 36-37.
Tastes and fashions in jewelry were changing, with increasing wealth in Late Roman society. By the 3rd century, the designs for rings became more opulent, with wide and ornate shoulder forms, like here. Comparative examples can be found in the British Museum, London (F. H. Marshall, 1907, nos. 537, 539, 540, 544), Alice and Louis Koch Collection in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich (Chadour, 1994, vol. 1, nos. 413-415 with further references, and 409). Cf. also Lucia Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, L’oro dei Romani. Gioelli di età Imperiale, Rome 1992, p. 204, nos. 249-250.