cameo; finger-ring

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Object Type: cameo; finger-ring
Museum number: OA.5851
Description: Cameo; sardonyx; St John the Baptist, clothed in skin garment, standing to right, extending right hand and holding scroll in left; behind him is a tree; inscribed; in gold ring.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 13thC-14thC (cameo); 19thC (finger-ring)
Materials: sardonyx; gold
Technique
Dimensions: Length: 18 millimetres; Width: 12 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Published: DCA, London, 1893, p 719; Text from Dalton 1915, Catalogue of Engraved Gems: Smith & Cheetham, Dict. of Christian Antiquities, i, p. 719. The tree has reference to the words: Now is the axe laid to the root of the tree (Matthew iii, 10; Luke iii, 9)
Bibliographic references: Dalton 1901 / Catalogue of Early Christian Antiquities and Objects from the Christian East in the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities and Ethnography of the British Museum (105); Dalton 1915 / Catalogue of the Engraved Gems of the Post-Classical Periods in the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography in the British Museum. (7)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: saint/martyr; tree/bush
Associated names
Associated titles: Inscription from: Matthew 3:10; Inscription from: Luke 3:9
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: OA.5851

Free entry