Medieval Silver Ring with Garnet Cabochon

Comprising a central disc with eight radiating lobes, each with a shallow recess to accept enamel, incised ring enclosing a perching bird; integral loop. 7.09 grams, 37 mm



Found Gloucestershire, UK.

Depicting Mary clad in red and green, with a green halo outlining her head, raising her hands in exclamation. 1.92 kg, 53 x 23.5 cm



Eglise Saint-Malo, Dinan, France, by repute. Acquired from the above by Mr and Mrs Junius P. Morgan, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. The Dalva Brothers collection. Accompanied by a previous cataloguing document. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12994-246433.

Although her garments are uncharacteristic of figures of the Virgin, she nevertheless almost certainly represents Mary as she appeared in a scene of the Annunciation. Both in terms of the choice of colours, and in the style and treatment of her features and drapery folds, she can be compared very closely with window panels from the third quarter of the thirteenth century removed from the Church of Saint Radegonde in Poitiers, including a window now in the Glencairn Museum in Bryn Athyn which shows in its lowermost vignette an identically dressed Virgin riding side saddle on a donkey during her flight into Egypt (fig. 1a-b).

With segmented shank bearing punched annulets, alternating low hatched bulbs and taller bulbs with enamel fill to the crown; tapering round-section pin. 3.32 grams, 22 mm



Ex Graham Slater collection, Cambridge, 1980s-1990s.