Ring with Hippocampus (100–200 CE): Art, History and Details

Ring with Hippocampus (100–200 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This delicate gold ring is decorated with a tiny hippocampus, a creature from Greco-Roman mythology with the forequarters of a horse and the tail of a fish. Stylized waves bracket the hippocampus, crashing up against its tail and front hooves. The thin band of the ring is decorated with horizontal lines to the halfway point on both sides.

Object facts

• Title: Ring with Hippocampus
• Date: 100–200 CE
• Culture: Italy, Roman
• Type: Jewelry
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Diameter: 2 cm (13/16 in.)
• Collection: GR - Roman
• Department: Greek and Roman Art
• Accession number: 1916.101

A detail from the museum

In Greek and Roman art, water spirits or nereids are often depicted riding hippocampi.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade

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.