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_900x900.jpg "Large Post Medieval Merchant’s Seal Ring Engraved with 'BG' and Shield")
_200x200.jpg "Large Post Medieval Merchant’s Seal Ring Engraved with 'BG' and Shield")
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LOT 0352
Large Post Medieval Merchant’s Seal Ring Engraved with 'BG' and Shield
GERMANY, 16TH CENTURY A.D.
1 1/8 in. (20.03 grams, 28.33 mm overall, 23.00 x 18.47 mm internal diameter (approximate size British T 1/2, USA 9 3/4, Europe 21.89, Japan 21)).
Engraved with the owner's initials ‘B G’ above a tilting shield with flanche; merchant's mark motif of capital 'A' and a cross.
ProvenancePrivate collection, Europe.
Acquired on the English art market.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13051-248349.
Similar examples in The Victoria and Albert Museum, accession numbers: M.223-1975, 717-1871 and M.341-1975; The British Museum, registration number: 1872,0604.391.
FootnotesMerchants' marks were chosen by their owners as a form of personal cypher, and so it is almost impossible to decipher the owner of many merchants' marks, as they were not governed by the strict regulation and recording that heraldry laws dictated. Merchants' rings were engraved with geometric symbols used to mark their goods or personal belongings and used instead of a coat of arms for those not entitled to them. Most merchants in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had marks, easily identifiable and formed with a few strokes. Many such rings also bear religious or talismanic inscriptions or imagery, combining a spiritual with a commercial function. The shape of the shield on this example draws direct parallels to the heraldic shields and jewels of this period in Germany.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0352
Large Post Medieval Merchant’s Seal Ring Engraved with 'BG' and Shield
Sold for (Inc. bp): £12,350
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Opening Bid: £250
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Bronze Jeweller's Stamp
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Opening Bid: £85
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From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s. -
Post Medieval Marble Portrait of a Man
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Opening Bid: £2,500
Modelled in the round with a frowning expression, a triangular face with angular features and thick banded hair; recessed to the top of the head. 35.1 kg, 41 cm high including stand
Private collection, England. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13082-249677.
From the late 17th century until around the 1760s, classical nostalgia and the viewing and recording of classical remains became major occupations for aristocratic young men who went on the ‘Grand Tour’. In Rome, for example, some British visitors counted and measured the huge number of ancient columns and obelisks still visible in the city. The wealthiest brought back antiquities, including stones with Latin inscriptions, and redesigned their gardens to display them. More significantly, such travels also encouraged those who went to redefine their own origins and native identities within a wider European context. The taste for the reproductions of ancient monuments involved also the sculptures of Middle Age.
