Details

LOT 1639

Medieval Silver Iconographic Ring

CIRCA 15TH-16TH CENTURY A.D.

1 in. (15.77 grams, 27.25 mm overall, 20.16 mm internal diameter (approximate size British U 1/2, USA 10 1/4, Europe 23, Japan 22)).

With thick segmented hoop and square bezel; each shoulder with a tapering panel depicting a winged nimbate figure, facing; below this, a rectangular panel with a voided cross; underside with a nimbate eagle; above the shoulders, two splayed fronds; lateral faces of the bezel with flowers, each larger face with nimbate figure on a hatched field; underside with inscription oremus (let us pray). [No Reserve]

Provenance

Private collection, Arundel, West Sussex, UK, 1975-late 1990s.

Literature

Cf. Boardman, J. & Scarisbrick, D., The Ralph Harari Collection of Finger Rings, London, 1977, item 173, for type.

Footnotes

The nimbate figures and inscription suggest that the ring was a devotional object belonging to a cleric or ecclesiastical leader.