Greek Metalwork: Bronze Ring with Bezel
Inv. No.: 87.244
Provenance: Greece
Date: c. 5th century BC
Height: 23mm
Width: 24mm
Cottier-Angeli Gift.
A bronze ring with a bezel decorated with a device in relief and a horseshoe-shaped hoop. The bezel was probably originally oval in shape, but is damaged with parts of both sides of the oval missing. The hoop is oval in cross-section and ridged. There is a small, rounded protuberance at each end of the bezel, where it joins with the hoop. The ring is badly corroded, making it difficult to discern details.
Function:
A ring with a device on the bezel that created an impression when pressed into a clay or wax seal. It was used as a means of identifying and protecting the property of an individual.
Manufacture:
Made using a mould and the lost-wax method of bronze casting.
Decoration:
- Corrosion has obscured the details of the decoration, but there is a figural device in relief on the upper surface of the bezel.
- The hoop is decorated with fine ridges.
Bibliography:
Boardman, J., Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical, London, Thames and Hudson, 1970, 212-238, especially 230-232 (bronze rings).
Comparanda:
Boardman, J., Greek Gems and Finger Rings: Early Bronze Age to Late Classical, London, Thames and Hudson, 1970, Fig. 217, Type IV (same shape).