Rings

A BYZANTINE STATEMENT IN GARNETS AND PEARLS

Gold ring formed from a flat gold sheet hoop decorated with alternating ribbed and zig-zag wire ornamentation. The flat, cluster-shaped bezel, edged with ribbed wire, has an almost floral appearance. At the center is a high collet enclosing ribbed, beaded, and zig-zag wires arranged in decorative patterns, and set with a round garnet cabochon. Radiating from the center are six oval garnet cabochons in high collets, alternating with six pearls mounted on gold studs with gold globule infill. The ring shows signs of wear through age, including some deterioration to the nacre of the natural pearls, and remains in good wearable condition.

Provenance:

United Kingdom, The Jonest Collection, published in: Diana Scarisbrick and Sonja Butler, Marvels in Miniature, The Jonest Collection of Rings, London 2024, p. 102, no. 62.

Literature:

This ring belongs to a distinct style of Late Roman and early Byzantine jewels in which richly colored garnets and pearls were combined to create striking displays of wealth and status. The ring’s glowing red garnets would have been among its most prized features. Derived from the Latin granatum, a reference to the pomegranate and its deep red seeds, garnets were one of the most popular gemstones of antiquity and remained highly prized throughout Late Antiquity, the Byzantine Empire, and the Migration period. Sourced principally from India and Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), and later also from Bohemia and Portugal, red garnets increasingly became associated with wealth and elite status (see M Franz, Garnet Cloisonné on the Continent during the 7th and 8th Centuries, 2015; C Boschetti, B Gratuze and N Schibille, “Garnet Trade in Early Medieval Europe: The Italian Network,” 2022; N Adam, “Garnet Cloisonné in the Wyvern Collection,” 2026).

Polished and set as cabochons, then enriched with pearls and intricate goldwork in an elaborate cluster design, the garnets transform the ring into a dazzling treasure, epitomizing a period renowned for its technical sophistication. The cluster design is traditionally Late Roman in style, with parallels in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. no. BJ2275, AD 375–425), the Thetford Treasure in the British Museum, London (C Johns and T Potter, The Thetford Treasure: Roman Jewellery and Silver, London, 1983, nos. 5 and 8), and a ring from Tournai in the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels (Hadjadj, 2007, p. 325, no. 425). The inclusion of pearls, however, together with the highly ornamental use of varied wirework, suggests an early Byzantine date, when Roman traditions merged with new influences from the eastern Mediterranean. The ring belongs to a dynamic period shaped by migration, trade, and artistic exchange, when techniques and styles intermingled and resulted in some of the most sophisticated goldsmithing of the age.

R-1149