Engraved on this convex oval ring stone is the bust of a man in three-quarter view. He has articulated eyes, a full head of wavy locks, a mustache and a forked beard. He wears a cuirass, with pteryges protecting his shoulder, under a chlamys pinned by a circular brooch. The stone is mounted as a ring in a late 18th or early 19th century gold setting. Sangiorgi thought the subject resembled a bronze portrait bust of a man in the British Museum, which he considered to be Lucius Aelius Caesar (see no. 260 in S. Walker and M. Bierbrier, Ancient Faces). Boardman and Wagner (Marlborough, op. cit.) previously considered this a Renaissance gem, although later (Masterpieces, op. cit.) suggested a connection to a portrait of the philosopher Plotinos, but the referenced marble portrait has a receding hairline contrary to that seen on our gem (see G.M.A. Richter, Portraits of the Greeks, figs. 2056-2058). Given the style, a 16th century date seems most likely.
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The gem with a crack running horizontally to one ear then diagonally through the beard, with some chips along the edges of the crack; the gold with some surface scratches, an incised no. 26 on the underside of the bezel.