Engraved Ring with a Seated Woman Holding a Branch (Front)

The bezel of this gold ring depicts a woman sitting in right profile with her head bowed, holding a spray of flowers in her left hand. She wears a belted chiton that falls in delicate folds over her torso and legs, the stitching on the neck and sleeve clearly marked, and an epiblema, or veil, with a dotted border that covers her face and falls onto her left thigh. She sits on an Ionic column capital.

Carving the elaborate motif into the soft gold of the bezel by hand allowed the artist to achieve exceptional detail, but with no additional attributes, the identity of this woman remains uncertain. Similarly posed figures seated on Ionic capitals are used for depictions of deities on a number of rings and engraved gems of the late 400s B.C. The motif is also used for representations of Penelope waiting for Odysseus’ return, though without the Ionic column. Engraved gold rings were often used as seals, but this device may have had funerary significance: the bowed head and flowers seen here create a somber mood and suggest a mourning context. The leaf-shaped bezel is the most common form for rings from the mid to late 5th century B.C.