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LOT 0344

Sold for (Inc. bp): £12,350

STUART PERIOD GOLD MEMENTO MORI RING WITH JEWELLED SKULLS AND CROSSED BONES
17TH CENTURY A.D.
1 1/8 in. (10.99 grams, 27.06 mm overall, 15.95 mm internal diameter (approximate size British K 1/2, USA 5 1/2, Europe 10.58, Japan 10)).

Comprising a hefty hoop with scooped upper face, alternating applied skulls and crossed bones on the upper face decorated with white enamel, the eyes, noses and mouths of the skulls set with diamonds(?).

PROVENANCE:
Private collection of a North London lady before 2000.
Property of a London, UK, gentleman.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12771-237884.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

LITERATURE:
Cf. PAS no. HESH-23A8A2, for similar.

FOOTNOTES:
The memento mori jewellery of the 16th and 17th centuries served as wearable ‘reminders of mortality’. Typical motifs within this genre included skulls, skeletons, crossbones, hourglasses, coffins, the gravedigger’s pick and shovel, and various other emblems of death and decay.

CONDITION
VETTING:
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