Roman Satyr Traveller Gemstone in Gold Ring
1st-3rd century A.D. A garnet cabochon with intaglio satyr traveller advancing with staff and pouch over his shoulder, set into a later gold finger ring. Cf. Chadour, A.B., Rings. The Alice and Louis Koch Collection, volume I, Leeds, 1994, item 321, for type; Richter, G.M.A., Engraved Gems of the Romans, London, 1971, no.184. 8.22 grams, 27.20 mm overall, 22.95 mm internal diameter (approximate size British O, USA 7, Europe 14.98, Japan 14) (1 in.). Acquired 1960s-1990s.Late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister. The subject was popular on Roman gems: Silenus and the satyrs, grotesque hedonists, unrestrained in their desire for sex and wine, and yet immortal companions of Dionysus, were considered ‘cruder than men and yet somehow wiser, combining mischief with wisdom, lewdness with skill in music, animalism with divinity'. The counterpoint of the divine and the atavistic appealed to the Roman sense of moral superiority. A video of this lot is available to view on Timeline Auctions Website.]