A serpent coils up the face of this ring, scales finely hatched, head raised and turned as if it has just heard its name. In the style of the Antique, and reminiscent too of the Pomellato series, the carved shell is set within a stamped sterling silver mount in the antique signet ring style: a broad oval bezel on a slender shank with split shoulders. The snake is carved in positive relief, white against the warm peach-pink layer of the shell.

The ancient Romans believed that the snake's ability to shed its skin represented rebirth and immortality. Cameo carving, an art the Romans prized, cuts away the surface of a layered stone or shell so that the design stands out in relief against the ground; shell cameos of this kind have been a specialty of Torre del Greco, near Naples, since the nineteenth century.

The Details

• Origin: Italy
• Metal: Sterling silver
• Materials: Carved shell
• Marks: Stamped sterling
• Ring Size: 8
• Condition: Hairline crack running from the snake's head to the top edge of the shell; otherwise good, with light wear to the mount.