Dumbarton Oaks - Signet Ring with Inscription in reverse

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Signet Ring with Inscription in reverse

Byzantine
9th century - 10th century
2 cm (13/16 in.)
gold with niello
BZ.1953.12.2

Not on view

Permalink: http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/27462

Additional Images

Alternate view

Three-quarter view with a monogram with the name of the Virgin

Reverse

Bezel

Profile

Reverse

Description

Massive gold ring with nielloed decoration. Hoop ornamented with a rinceau and with monograms on each shoulder ("Theotoke," "Help"); bezel with reversed inscription: "Mother of God help thy servant, Maria the Patrician."

Bibliography

Handbook of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Harvard University (Washington, DC, 1955), no. 194.

M. Ross, Jewelry, Enamels and Art of the Migration Period, Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Vol. II, (Washington, DC, 1965), no. 110, pl. LX.

Handbook of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Harvard University (Washington, DC, 1967), no. 224.

G. Vikan and J. Nesbit, Security in Byzantium: Locking, Sealing, Weighing (Washington, DC, 1980), p. 16, fig. 29.

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. 22.

A. Bosselmann-Ruickbie, Byzantinischer Schmuck des 9. bis frühen 13. Jarhunderts (Wiesbaden, 2011), p. 305-6, no. 179.

Exhibition History

Washington, DC, Dumbarton Oaks, "Security in Byzantium: Locking, Sealing, Weighing," May 8 - Sept. 2, 1980.

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 Barnes and Robert Woods Bliss from George Zacos (dealer), Istanbul, July 24, 1953.

Gift of Mildred Barnes 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.

Object Last Modified: 11/16/2023