Signet Ring with Griffin, Silver

Signet Ring with Griffin

A beautiful finger ring with a winged griffin as a seal plate. The ring is a copy of an original of unknown origin and date. Due to the design of the original ring, a dating to Roman times can be assumed, but a copy from the time of the "Grand Tour" cannot be ruled out. The term Grand Tour refers to an obligatory educational journey of the sons of the European nobility, later also of the upper middle classes, through Southern Europe, Italy, France, Spain and also to the Holy Land.

The griffin is a mythological figure that was already known in ancient advanced civilisations such as Egypt, Babylon or Assyria. A hybrid creature with a lion's body, wings and the head of an eagle with pointed ears, the griffin is usually seen as a being of the sky and the sun. The griffin is found as an extremely popular motif on Roman vessels, for example, as a helmet adornment on gladiators, as a decoration on armour or as handles on knives or spoons.