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Sold for (Inc. bp): £8,060
EARLY 15TH CENTURY AD
1" (9.03 grams, 23.82mm overall, 19.73mm internal diameter (approximate ring size British T 1/2, USA 10, Europe 22.00, Japan 21)).
A gold ring with D-section hoop with central rib, widening at the shoulder ending in a lily-shaped flute supporting a four petalled flower set with a natural diamond crystal.
PROVENANCE:
Property of a central London collector; acquired before 2000; previously from a European jewellery collection. Accompanied by a X-Ray Fluorescence metal analysis certificate.
LITERATURE:
Cf. Scaisbrick D. Royal, Rich and Renowned, Rings from Imperial Rome to Victorian England, no.9, pp. 26,27; and Dalton O. M. Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Medieval and Later (British Museum 1912) no.984, and for a similar hoop, no.262, both Italian.
FOOTNOTES:
The cusped setting anticipates the quatrefoil bezels of Renaissance rings. Dr Bonewitz notes: 'The four visible faces of the diamond crystal are polished, the very earliest form of diamond cutting, and consistent with the Medieval age of the ring.'
