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A Late 19th - early 20th c. gold chiseled ring set with a Roman Sard intaglio. Isis and Serapis with inscription.

£ 3200

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A Late 19th - early 20th c. gold chiseled ring set with a Roman Sard intaglio. Isis and Serapis with inscription.

£ 3200

Intaglio 13 × 15 mm 
Mounting 18k gold - US 7 · UK N½ · EU 54 
Intaglio: Roman art, 2nd - 3rd century A.D.
Mounting : Late 19th - early 20th c. 

A chased yellow-gold signet ring, its shoulders engraved with foliate scrolls, claw-set with an oval sard intaglio of deep brown. The intaglio shows two confronted divine busts separated by a vertically retrograde Greek inscription. At right, a fine profile, the hair bound with a diadem and falling in locks over the neck; at left, a second figure crowned with a tall attribute, a calathos or modius. The pair is identified as Serapis and Isis, the great deities of the Greco-Egyptian pantheon.
Serapis, the syncretic god devised under the Ptolemies, fuses Osiris and Apis with the features of a Zeus-Hades; crowned with the modius, the grain-measure, he presides over fertility, healing and the underworld. Isis, his consort, goddess of magic and universal protection, ruled a cult that in the first two centuries A.D. spread throughout the Roman Empire. Shown as confronted busts, they embody the protective couple, bringers of prosperity and salvation.
Between the two profiles runs a Greek inscription in capitals, ΚΟΙΝΤΟΥ. It is the genitive of Κόιντος, the Greek transcription of the Latin praenomen Quintus: “the seal of Quintus.” The stone thus served as the personal seal of a man named Quintus, while placing him under the protection of the divine couple. 

Scholarly Note & References
On Serapis gems the usual legend is a devotional acclamation — ΕΙΣ ΖΕΥΣ ΣΑΡΑΠΙΣ (“One Zeus-Sarapis”) or Ἵλεως τῷ φοροῦντι (“gracious to the wearer”). Here the inscription is instead a personal name in the genitive: the stone belongs to the category of the personal seal placed under the protection of the divine couple, rather than the purely votive amulet.

An aside, unrelated to the stone: the same name, hellenized as Κόιντος, is that of the poet Quintus of Smyrna, author of the Posthomerica (3rd century A.D.). A mere homonym.

 
Reference corpus
R. Veymiers, Ἵλεως τῷ φοροῦντι. Sérapis sur les gemmes et les bijoux antiques (Brussels, 2009, with Supplements I–II), which catalogues more than 1,250 gems and jewels.

Each piece of jewellery is delivered with an authentification certificate signed by Bianca Massard and Gabriele Vangelli de Cresci experts, including additional documentation if existing and exhaustive description of the piece.
Pictures are part of the description and show state of conservation of the item. For additional pictures please contact us. (see contact section)

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Each piece of jewellery is delivered with an authentification certificate signed by Bianca Massard and Gabriele Vangelli de Cresci experts, including additional documentation if existing and exhaustive description of the piece.
Pictures are part of the description and show state of conservation of the item. For additional pictures please contact us. (see contact section)

Shipping and pick-up at the store options can be chosen during check out.

Our exclusive delivery partner is ThePackengers.
ThePackengers, specialized in the packaging and transport of works of art and collectibles, already collaborates with the largest auction houses as Drouot, but also with galleries, fairs, antique dealers, decorators and e-marketplaces.
See our Country List
Shipping Terms and Conditions.
Privacy Policy ThePackengers.

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