An unusual 22ct gold ring that has been set with an ancient Roman intaglio. It is similar to a spitz dog with a fox like muzzle and fluffy tail. This dog was hugely popular over a very large part of the Roman empire and is illustrated on amphora and grave stones. The melitan\u2019s charms and foibles are very similar to those of small companion dogs in our society. They lived in pampered luxury and did no real work except to amuse their owners. They were affectionate and sweet, but as is the case with small breeds today, enamoured owners often failed to correct problematic behaviours like yapping. Apparently, bad-mannered Melitans were sometimes still seen as ‘cute’ by their owners while others expressed their dislike of the spoiled little beasts. Probably the most affecting tribute to the dog\u2019s imprint on human beings, though, comes in the form of a gravestone erected to a melitan dog called Helena. The gravestone praises the dog for her merits and asserts that she fully deserves the honour of such a lavish burial some 2000 years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An unusual 22ct gold ring that has been set with an ancient Roman intaglio. It is similar to a spitz dog with a fox like muzzle and fluffy tail. This dog was hugely popular over a very large part of the Roman empire and is illustrated on amphora and grave stones. The melitan\u2019s charms and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":467978,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_cat":[5308],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"1":"product","6":"product_cat-uncategorised","7":"type-antique-dress-rings","8":"type-antique-rings","9":"period-victorian","10":"ollys-picks-all","11":"material-carnelian","12":"material-gold","13":"material-metals","14":"collection-bertie-presents","15":"ring-styles-unusual","16":"ring-central-stone-carnelian","18":"first","19":"instock","20":"shipping-taxable","21":"purchasable","22":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquejewellerycompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/467977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquejewellerycompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquejewellerycompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquejewellerycompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquejewellerycompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquejewellerycompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=467977"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquejewellerycompany.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=467977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}