Getty Museum

Finger Ring with a Head of Silenos

Date

425–350 B.C.

Medium

Gold

Culture

Etruscan

Department

Jewelry

Institution

Getty Museum

On the oval bezel in relief is the head of a balding satyr with a long curly beard, who faces three-quarters to the right. The hoop is a band, flat on the inside and convex on the outside; it is joined to the oval, pointed bezel, which is decorated with a raised linear border between an inner beaded border and an outer border of tongues. The bezel is worn. Bearded satyrs figure prominently in Greek art as the part-human, part-animal companions of the wine god Dionysos. They may have held additional meanings in Etruscan art, where satyr heads are often shown hovering in scenes of prophecy. The low-relief decoration on this ring suggests that it was meant for wearing rather than sealing, the practice of pressing a carved emblem into wax or clay as an individual insignia. Consisting of about three dozen examples, the Fortnum Group are all rings with leaf-shaped bezels, relief images and a hollow hoop.

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