A BYZANTINE GOLD RING WITH A CARNELIAN SEAL DEPICTING CHRIST, CIRCA 7TH CENTURY A.D.

拍品描述

A BYZANTINE GOLD RING WITH A CARNELIAN SEAL DEPICTING CHRIST, CIRCA 7TH CENTURY A.D. The ring of plain circular form, the narrow hoop of thin gold expanding at the shoulders into a raised oval bezel, its outer wall decorated with a chased band of small triangular punch-marks arranged in a running frieze. Set within the bezel, a domed oval carnelian intaglio engraved with the frontal bust of Christ, cross-nimbate, the head surrounded by a plain circular halo, the hair falling in symmetrical curling locks to either side of the face, the features rendered with elongated eyes, a long straight nose, and a small closed mouth. The figure is shown in tunic and himation, the drapery indicated by a series of parallel incised folds falling diagonally across the chest, the right hand raised in a gesture of blessing before the body, the left holding what appears to be a codex or scroll. The image belongs to the frontal, iconic type of Christ that emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean during the sixth and seventh centuries, in which the Saviour is presented not in narrative action but as a hieratic devotional presence. The halo, the symmetrical fall of the hair, the raised right hand, and the book held at the chest together form the visual formula that would become fixed as the Pantokrator in the middle Byzantine period. On a small intaglio of this kind, the abbreviated modelling and the reliance on incised line rather than plastic depth reflect the constraints of the medium, but the type is unmistakable. Rings of this class functioned simultaneously as devotional images worn against the body and as personal seals, the impression carrying the protective authority of the sacred image into daily transactions. Carnelian was the preferred hardstone for seal engraving throughout the Roman and early Byzantine periods, valued for the ease with which wax released from its polished surface and for the depth of its red colour, which in Christian usage acquired an added association with the blood of the Passion. Gold rings of this weight and construction, with a domed intaglio secured in a bezel of chased ornament, were objects of some standing and were most often commissioned by clergy, court officials, or members of the propertied laity. The combination of a devotional image with a functional signet reflects the practice, characteristic of the seventh century, by which private piety and administrative identity were carried on the same object. The engraving of Christ on personal seals became widespread in the Eastern Empire from the reign of Justinian II onward, when the image of the Saviour first appeared on imperial coinage, and the frontal bust with cross-nimbus rapidly entered the wider repertoire of glyptic and sphragistic art. Earlier Christian seals had tended to favour symbolic or narrative subjects, such as the Good Shepherd, the fish, or scenes from the Old Testament; the direct portrait of Christ marks a shift towards the iconic mode that would define Byzantine devotional imagery for the next thousand years. This ring exemplifies the transition, within early Byzantine personal ornament, from the symbolic Christian repertoire of Late Antiquity to the frontal iconic image of Christ that would define middle Byzantine devotional art. In uniting a hardstone intaglio in the Roman glyptic tradition with a subject drawn from the emerging cult of holy images, it stands as a small but articulate witness to the visual culture of the seventh-century Eastern Mediterranean.7g, ring size 16

图片