Finger Ring with Figure of Nike (300s BCE): Art, History and Details

Finger Ring with Figure of Nike (300s BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The figured carved on the upper portion of this gold ring represents Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. She faces right in contrapposto with one hand behind her back while the other, outstretched, displays a wreath. The goddess is exquisitely engraved, with separately modeled locks of hair and individual feathers on her wings. Engraved rings were worn both as jewelry and as personal signatures, since the engraved image could be pressed to create a seal.

Object facts

• Title: Finger Ring with Figure of Nike
• Date: 300s BCE
• Culture: Greece
• Type: Jewelry
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Diameter: 1.7 cm (11/16 in.); Bezel: 2.2 x 2 cm (7/8 x 13/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Greek
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1985.66

A detail from the museum

The ancient Greek pronunciation of Nike is NEE-kay.

Collection credit

Gift of Jeremy Merrin

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1985.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (1986): 26–71.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.