L AT E R O M A N R I N G S , 4 T H - 5 T H C E N T U RY
develop the shape, with a stepped rectangular bezel set with a variety of precious gems and a side bezel in the form of an attached cone, usually set with a pearl (cat. nos. 12 and 13). Merovingian examples are also known. The present ring is one of the earliest known examples, and its technique suggests that it derives from a workshop that produced other types of important jewelry, such as the large openwork bracelets set with gems.
Notes: A fourth-century bracelet ornamented with emeralds with opus interrasile frames was discovered in a grave in Cologne (now RĂśmisch-Germanisches Museum, inv. 1498); see Yeroulanou 1999, p. 241, no. 205 and fig. 148. For the ring in the Museum fĂźr Angewandte Kunst in Cologne, Chadour and Joppien 1985, p. 104, no. 154 (probably of fifth-century date). For examples in the Koch Collection, Chadour 1994, p. 124, no. 426 (with embossed bezel set with garnet and emerald); and p. 144, no. 484 (set with garnet and pearl). Another early example, set with an emerald and a pierced sapphire, is in the British Museum, Marshall 1907, p. 133, no. 815; and Johns 1996, p. 57, fig. 3.17.
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