Early 19th-century Gold ring with Ancient Roman intaglio of a stork, shell and mouse

Gold Ring Set with an Ancient Roman Carnelian Intaglio Depicting a Stork Emerging from a Turbo Shell and Seizing a Mouse.

Early 19th-century gold ring set with a Roman carnelian intaglio, 1st century BC.

Measurements
• Ring size: UK S / US 9.25 / EU 60
• Bezel: 1.9 × 1.5 cm

Description
A finely made high-carat gold ring of early 19th-century manufacture, set with an ancient Roman carnelian intaglio. The oval gem is engraved with the unusual and whimsical image of a stork emerging from the mouth of a large spiral turbo shell, its neck arched forward to seize a small mouse by the tail. The scene is rendered with crisp, linear cutting, the bird’s plumage and the shell’s spiral whorls delineated in fine detail. The polished surface of the carnelian exhibits gentle wear from age and use.

The gold mount is of delicate design, with split shoulders incorporating openwork scrolls that taper to a plain hoop. The refined simplicity of the mount frames the intaglio to full advantage, reflecting the period fashion for setting ancient gems into contemporary jewellery.

Iconography
The stork, a bird symbolic in antiquity of vigilance, filial piety, and longevity, here appears in an imaginative fusion with a marine shell—an element often associated with Venus and the sea. The capture of the mouse adds an element of humour and narrative intrigue, perhaps evoking themes of cunning, the triumph of wit, or the unexpected in nature. Such unusual compositions are occasionally found in Roman glyptics of the late Republican period, appealing both for their novelty and symbolic richness.