An enamelled gold ‘Forget-me -not’ ring
English, 19th Century
Sold
An intaglio ring in the antique taste
French, circa 1880
mounted with an oval intaglio of a bull bound with ivy around its middle and standing on a groundline denoted by the thyrsus of Dionysus lying horizontally, carved in a beautifully figured piece of bloodstone, mounted in a yellow gold ring in the Hellenistic taste, the shoulders decorated with twisted wirework.
Stamped with the French eagle’s head mark for 18ct gold.
In Greek mythology the bull was a symbol of Dionysus, the god of wine, male fertility and pleasure. The ivy and the thyrsus are also attributes of Dionysus.
UK ring size: N
The composition of the intaglio is very similar to an engraving in carnelian signed in Greek ΥΛΛΟΥ, a plaster impression of which is included in the collection compiled by Tommaso Cades. A closely comparable engraving was also in the collection of Prince Stanislas Poniatowski in onyx.
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