A ROMAN GOLD, EMERALD AND GARNET DOUBLE RING CIRCA 3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D.

拍品描述

A ROMAN GOLD, EMERALD AND GARNET DOUBLE RING, CIRCA 3RD-4TH CENTURY A.D. Of double-hoop construction in gold, the two narrow bands joined beneath a single elongated bezel plate that carries three stones set in a horizontal row. The two outer settings are oval and hold cabochon garnets of deep translucent red, each collet framed by a finely plaited rope-work border in twisted wire. Between them, a smaller circular collet holds a cabochon emerald of vivid green, set flush in a plain bezel without wire border. The shanks are of flat rectangular section, plain on the exterior and joined to the bezel plate at either end. The ring is designed to be worn across two adjacent fingers, the paired hoops fixed at a set distance by the rigid bezel above. The tripartite arrangement of two large flanking stones about a smaller central one is a compositional device familiar from Late Roman jewellery, where symmetry about a central axis governs the setting of rings, earrings, and pendants alike. The choice of garnet paired with emerald reflects the standard Late Antique preference for strong contrasts of red and green, a palette that would remain characteristic of jewellery production into the Early Byzantine period. Gold, garnet, and emerald together carried considerable value and meaning in the Late Roman world. Emeralds reached the Mediterranean primarily from the mines of the Eastern Desert of Egypt, at Mons Smaragdus, and their availability in Roman jewellery is directly tied to imperial control of that region. Garnets were imported over longer distances, with material coming into the Roman sphere from India and Sri Lanka through the Red Sea trade. A ring combining both stones in gold thus represents not merely a decorative commission but an object whose materials trace the reach of Roman long-distance exchange. Double rings of this form are comparatively uncommon and are generally understood as luxury commissions, worn as a display of status rather than as everyday ornament. This ring exemplifies the Late Roman taste for polychrome cabochon settings on a monumental miniature scale, where the goldsmith's rope-work borders and rigid double hoop transform a personal ornament into an architectural composition in gold and coloured stone. It belongs to the broader shift, visible across third and fourth century jewellery, away from engraved gems and toward the plain cabochon as the principal decorative element. Dimensions: Length: 3.9cm; Internal Diameter: 1.7cm

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