Ring, between 2nd and 1st century BCE

  • Greek

Gold and bronze

  • Overall: 1 5/8 × 1 × 1 1/8 inches (4.1 × 2.5 × 2.9 cm)

Gift of Mrs. William Clay

28.121

On View

  • Ancient Greek and Roman, Level 2, South

Department

Greco-Roman and Ancient European

This heavy ring has been set with a gold oval deeply chiseled with a scene of the hero Theseus slaying the minotaur, a monstrous creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull. The story of Theseus’s triumph is recorded with dramatic clarity, and the artist has beautifully adapted the carefully modeled figures to the long narrow shape of the bezel.

Mrs. William Clay

1928-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

"Family Art Game," Detroit Free Press (May 18, 1986): p. 31 (ill.) [DIA Advertising Supplement]. Henshaw, Julia P., ed. A Visitors Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 113 (ill.).

Greek, Ring, between 2nd and 1st century BCE, gold and bronze. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. William Clay, 28.121.