Additional Images
Three-quarter view
Bezel
Description
This massive gold ring has a four-sided hoop, expanding to form the bezel set with an amethyst intaglio which depicts Thetis, one of the nymphs of the sea Nereids, riding across the sea on the back of Triton. Thetis, nude except for a mantle draped around her legs, wears a wreath around her head and sits frontally in the center. She faces on the left toward the Triton, and in one hand holds a shield intended for her son Achilles. The Triton steers the course with a pole in his right hand, raising his human body from the water on the left. His long fish-tail coils across the scene of the ocean which is indicated by a series of incised wavy liens.
Bibliography
M. Ross, Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Vol. II, Jewelry, Enamels and Art of the Migration Period (Washington, DC, 1965), no. 112, pl. LX. (copy in dossier)
Handbook of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Harvard University (Washington, DC, 1967), no. 226.
Survival of the Gods : Classical Mythology in Medieval Art (Providence R.I., 1987), no. 60 (copy in dossier).
Sacred Art, Secular Context: Objects of Art from the Byzantine Collection of Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., Accompanied by American Paintings from the Collection of Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, ed. Asen Kirin, Georgia Museum of Art (Athens, GA, 2005), cat. no. 18.
Exhibition History
Providence, RI, Brown University, Bell Gallery, List Art Center, "Survival of the Gods: Classical Mythology in Medieval Art," February 28, 1987 - March 29, 1987.
Athens, GA, Georgia Museum of Art, “Sacred Art, Secular Context: Objects of Art from the Byzantine Collection of Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., Accompanied by American Paintings from the Collection of Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss,” May 15 – November 6, 2005.
Acquisition History
Purchased by Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss from George Zacos (dealer) Istanbul, July 24, 1953.
Gift of Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss to Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C., 1953.
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Byzantine Collection, Washington, D.C.
