Cupid-like Diana’s Intaglio Ring – History Blog

The British Museum has an intaglio ring bearing an image of Princess Diana. There is something engraved on the deep red gem. At first glance, it looks like a little Cupid, about to pull out the arrow of love from the quiver on his back and shoot it at a person. But if you look closely, you can see that this figure is wearing a short robe. There is a feeling of hunting. The dogs were at their feet. This indicates that the deity is the huntress Diana Venatrix, who is about to draw the arrow of death and shoot it at a deer.

The oval-shaped stone, thought to be carnelian, is set in a delicate gold ring. The stone is intact, and although the gold has been crushed and bent, the ring is still mostly intact, with only a few small fragments. The ring is made from three beaded gold wires with a triangular cross-section (two at the bottom and one at the top). Three wires flatten out at the shoulders and two outer wires curve around the bezel. The triangular gaps on either side of the bezel are filled with tiny spirals and smaller discs of beaded gold wire.

In 2022, a metal detector discovered the ring in the village of Sedgeford, near Hunstanton, Norfolk, and declared it a treasure. The British Museum acquired it for its permanent collection in September 2024. Not yet on display. Diana the Huntress, armed with a bow and arrow and accompanied by a dog or a stag, is a popular iconographic type in Roman art. The sculptural type is widespread, and its derivatives appear on coins and gemstones. The British Museum holds three other carnelian intaglios of Diana Venatrix and the Hound: two carnelian intaglios from the Snettisham Jewelers’ Hoard, and a jadeite intaglio from the Thetford Hoard. Pith pendant. The carvings at Snettisham are much cruder. It’s really just a few diagonal lines, suggesting figures with arrows and hounds drawn on them.

A longer, lighter Diana Venatrix with a Hound, carved on chalcedony and set in a gold setting, is part of the late Roman Thetford Treasure, The hoard, a collection of fine jewelery and silverware, was also found in Norfolk. The Thetford Pendant and Sedgeford Ring are so similar in theme, engraving, and cable/beaded effect of the gold frame that one would imagine they were made in the same studio. They certainly date from the same period, the second half of the fourth century.

The ring was most likely commissioned rather than purchased at retail by the wearer, who was almost certainly an elite woman (there are several coins with Diana Venatrix on the reverse and Diana Venatrix on the obverse) There were wives and mothers of emperors) who used it as a signet ring to sign her letters and legal documents. For example, the intaglio of Diana Venatrix found at the Baths of Caerleon Fort in Wales bears the initials of its owner.