Property ꦑfrom the Tuyet Nguyet and Stephen Markbreiter Collection

A gold 'lotus and fish' ring

Central Java, Indonesia, 8th - 10th century

雪月藏亞洲藝術珍品

八至十世紀 印尼中爪哇 蓮魚紋金戒指

The 💝ring is in typical Dieng style, characterised by its stirrup shape with a flat top. The fish represents Matsya, the fish avatar and incarnation of the Hind🍒u god Vishnu, who came to earth on a lotus flower. Matsya was thought to have rescued the first man Manu, from the great flood.

The high popularity of this motif during the early Classical Period is supported by the discovery of numerous cast rings of similar weight with round, oval, or hexagonal bezels and slight variations in the motif. A similar ring in the Wereldmuseum collection is illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Magie van de Vrouw: Weefsels en sieraden uit de Gordel van Smaragd  [Ma𝄹gic of Women: Textiles and Jewellery from Indonesia], Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam, 2💝012, p. 519.

d. 1.8 cm; 13 grams