Sold on an auction 2022 >> https://www.christies.com
Dated 4th century BCE, but in my opinion the ring may have been made in Hellenistic or Greco-Roman periods
“A GREEK GOLD FINGER RING WITH CYBELE
CLASSICAL PERIOD, CIRCA 4TH CENTURY B.C.
1 1⁄8 in. (2.8 cm.) long
PROVENANCE
Antike Kunstwerke, Auktion IV, Ars Antiqua, Lucerne, 7 October 1962, lot 168.
Jean de Besnay, France.
Art Market, Paris.
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 2020″
Lot Essay by Hannah Fox Solomon, Head of Department, Senior Specialist
“This striking Greek gold finger ring is quite rare for its form and ornamentation. The present example features a square flat bezel rather than the more typical box bezel of pointed oval form (see the example in the British Museum with a nude woman standing at a pillar, no. 217.7 in J. Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings, and another in Leiden with a crouching Eros, no. 12bis in R.A. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Antieke Sier, Goud en zilver van Grieken en Romeinen). It shares with the two cited examples a sheet gold figure in relief, as well as similar elaborate ornamentation, including a frame of filigree beaded, plain and spiral wire.
On the ring presented here, the goddess Cybele is enthroned within an Ionic naiskos. She is holding a phiale and a scepter and is framed by a seated lion on either side. The scene is framed by rosettes at the corners. The hoop is formed of two spiral-twisted wires with a beaded wire along the exterior join, tapering at each end and inserted into lion-head terminals that bite onto the bezel.”