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Memorial and Mortuary Rings: Braybrooke
In the Braybrooke Collection is one of the Royalist mourning-rings, of gold, with slight hoop beautifully inlaid with black enamel, the top surmounted by an oval box three quarters of an inch long, the sides of which are ornamented with perpendicular ovals of black and white enamel alternately. The inside or under part of the box is inlaid with fifteen longer ovals in a similar manner, round a black centre, in imitation of a sun-flower. The box contains a large and beautifully-painted portrait of Charles I. on blue enamel ground, over a surface as large as half an acorn. The base of this is bound by a narrow band of plain gold. Lord Braybrooke described this ring as one of the most beautiful he had seen, and, besides the superiority of the workmanship, the likeness is well preserved.
In the same collection is a Royalist gold mourning-ring with black enamel inlaid upon the shoulders of the hoop and also upon the circular box on the top, which contains a sort of love-knot, or possibly intended for the royal cipher, below a cut crystal setting.
After the execution of Dr. John Hewett, chaplain to Charles I., and the object of Cromwell's vindictive cruelty, a mourning-ring inscribed 'Herodes necuit Johannem,' was worn by the Royalists.
The mourning-ring for King Charles II. bore the inscription 'Chs. Rex. Remem.-obiit-ber. : 6th Feb. 1685.' In the Waterton Collection at the South Kensington Museum is a memorial gold ring, with oval bezel set with crystal, beneath which is a crown with the initials 'C. R. K. B.' in gold, over hair (Charles II. and Catharine of Braganza). English. Date about 1685. Diameter, nine-tenths of an inch. Devices illustrative of death have frequently formed the subjects of mourning-rings. Among some antiquities found BB2 in Sussex, and exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries in March 1866, was the fragment of a mourning-ring set with a coffin-shaped crystal, on which was delicately engraved a skeleton.
In the Braybrooke Collection is a gold ring of about the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century, with a hexagonal tablet, which is inlaid with a white stone engraved with a death's-head; round it on the gold are engraved the words 'Dye to Live.'। In the same collection is a 'memento mori' ring, of bronze, with a tablet on the hoop, half an inch square, and edges serrated; a death's-head is engraved upon it with the above inscription. Rings with the same device and words are alluded to by Beaumont and Fletcher in the 'Chances :' I'll keep it as they keep death's-heads in rings, To cry 'memento' to me.
Rings engraved with skulls and skeletons were not, however, necessarily mourning-rings, but were worn also by persons who affected gravity. Luther wore a gold ring with a small death's-head in enamel, which is now preserved in Dresden (see 'Remarkable Rings'). Biron, in 'Love's Labour's Lost,' refers to 'a death's face in a ring.' Mr. Fairholt describes a ring on which two figures of 1 'The skull and skeleton decorations for rings' (remarks Mr. Fairholt) 'first came into favour and fashion at the obsequious court of France, when Diana, of Poictiers, became the mistress of Henry the Second. At that time she was a widow, and in mourning, so black and white became fashionable colours; jewels were formed like funeral memorials; golden ornaments, shaped like coffins, holding enamelled skeletons, hung from the neck; watches, made to fit in little silver skulls, were attached to the waists of the denizens of a court that alternately indulged in profanity or piety, but who mourned show.' skeletons surround the finger and support a small sarcophagus. The ring is of gold, enamelled, the skeletons being made still more hideous by a covering of white enamel. The lid of the sarcophagus is also enamelled, with a Maltese cross in red on a black ground studded with gilt hearts. This lid is made to slide off and display a very minute skeleton lying within (Londesborough Collection).
In the 'Recueil des Ouvrages d'Orfévrerie,' by Gilles l'Egaré, published in the early part of the reign of Louis XIV., is an unusually good design for a mourning-ring with skull decorations.
In the Londesborough Collection is a fine specimen of a mourning-ring of the early part of the last century. FEB AT. 35 Memorial and mortuary rings.
In digging a grave in or near Ripon some years ago a sexton discovered an ancient signet-ring, on which was engraved a dormouse coiled up in sleep, with an inscription around it, in black-letter characters, 'Wake me no man.' A similar ring is said to have been turned up in a churchyard near Scarborough.
At a meeting of the Royal Archæological Institute in April 1875, Mr. Fortnum, F.S.A., exhibited a mourning-ring of Queen Anne, the bezel of which is formed as a coffin, containing a mat of the Queen's hair, over which are the crowned initials A. R., and a death's-head and cross-bones beneath a piece of crystal. The hoop is enamelled black, with the inscription 'ANNA. REGINA. PIA. FELIX,' in letters of gold; inside is engraved, 'Nat. 5 Feb. 1664. Inaug. 8 March 1702. Obt. I August 1714.' In the Braybrooke Collection is a small and delicate lady's gold mourning-ring, in memory of Queen Mary, wife of William III. The hoop, which is very slight, is inlaid upon the shoulders with black enamel and surmounted by a square box for setting, ornamented with perpendicular lines of the same down the sides. The box contains a tress of the deceased Queen's hair, plaited, with 'M. R.' and a crown in small gold ciphers laid over it. A crystal, cut into facets, encloses them. The under side of the box has a death'shead and cross-bones inlaid in black enamel. In the same collection is a gold mourning-ring, inscribed, in letters of gold on black enamel, 'Gulielmus III. Rex., 1702.' After the 'Rex.' is a death's-head of gold. It is a slight gold hoop with a silver frame on the summit, set round with six small pearls, and made to imitate a buckle with a gold tongue across it, so that the band of it, visible below, resembles the garter.
In the collection of the late Lady Fellows was an ivory patch-box, with figure-subject carved in relief, formerly belonging to the unfortunate Queen Marie Antoinette, and containing a small gold ring, given by her to one of her attendants.
Pope bequeathed sums of five pounds to friends, who were to lay them out in rings; and Gray, the poet, in his will, gives an amount of stock to Richard Stonehewer, adding: 'And I beg his acceptance of one of my diamond rings.' The same bequest is given to Dr. Thomas Warton of a diamond ring and five hundred pounds. To his cousins he leaves his watches, rings, etc.
A touching instance of 'memorial' rings occurs in late times. The Princess Amelia, before her death, in 1810, had the sad satisfaction of placing on the finger of her royal father, George III., a ring made by her own directions for the express purpose, containing a small lock of her hair enclosed under a crystal tablet, set round with a few sparks of diamonds. This memorial of affection, given almost on her death-bed, hastened the attack of the mental disorder from which the King had suffered so much about twenty years before. The circumstances attending this gift were very affecting; she held the ring in her hand at the time of her father's accustomed visit, and, while placing it on his finger, said, 'Take this in remembrance of me.' This affecting incident was commemorated by Dr.
Wolcot in some elegant lines, very different to his usual compositions :- With all the virtues blest, and every grace To charm the world and dignify the race, Life's taper losing fast its feeble fire, The fair Amelia thus bespoke her sire : 'Faint on the bed of sickness lying, My spirit from its mansion flying.
Not long the light these languid eyes will see, My friend, my father, and my king, Receive the token and remember me!' Lord Eldon wore a mourning-ring in memory of his wife, and desired in his will that it might be buried with him.