A GOLD RING, JAVA, 8TH - 12TH CENTURY

A GOLD RING, JAVA, 8TH - 12TH CENTURY, with a stepped hexagonal bezel engraved with the stylised Sanskrit character Sri, size P 1/2, weight 36g

The motif on the bezel symbolises the Sanskrit character, Sri, associated with Dewi Sri, the Indonesian Goddess of rice and fertility. Rings with the Sri motif were regarded as amulets, bestowing wealth and prosperity upon the wearer

Cf. a closely comparable ring in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Samuel Eilenberg-Jonathan P. Rosen Collection of Indonesian Gold, 1998.544.377

Provenance:
The property of Mrs. Agnes Van Gessler Verschuir, wife of Mr. Peter Rudolf Wolter van Gessler Verschuir, Governor of Yogyakarta, Java from 1929 to 1932, and thence by descent