700-1100 AD, Viking Age. Silver ring with D-shaped hoop and flattened, square bezel bearing an abstract symbolic nielloed design. The design takes the form of a square divided by three horizontal bars with a repeating motif possibly depicting dragons’ or serpents’ heads and tails; further niello decoration is visible on the shoulders. In Norse mythology, Jormungand (pronounced “YOUR-mun-gand;” Old Norse Jörmungandr, “Great Beast”), also called the “Midgard Serpent,” is a snake or dragon who lives in the ocean that surrounds Midgard, the visible world. He was so enormous that his body forms a circle around the entirety of Midgard. He is one of the three children of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, along with Hel and Fenrir. Excellent condition; wearable; Size: D: 18.8mm / US: 8 7/8 / UK: R1/2; 3.17g; Provenance: Property of a London gentleman, formerly with the Parthenon gallery, previously in an old English collection formed in the 1970s.