finger-ring

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Object Type: finger-ring
Museum number: 1855,1115.1
Description: Gold finger-ring, comprising a large round hoop with two applied circular bezels on opposite sides, each bezel having a group of three large pellets to the right and left, with smaller pellets. The outer sides of the hoop are engraved with interlaced knots. One of the bezels is decorated with three incised interlaced triangles; the other bezel with an incised circular design of continuous intersecting curves. The edges of the bezels are ornamented with bands of zig-zag decoration. All ornament is inlaid with niello.
Cultures/periods: Anglo-Saxon
Production date: 8thC-9thC
Findspot: Found/Acquired: Peterborough, railway viaduct (GNR); Found/Acquired: Nene, River
Materials: gold; niello
Technique: inlaid; nielloed; applied; engraved
Dimensions: Diameter: 2.70 centimetres
Curator's comments: Text from Dalton 1912, Catalogue of Finger Rings, no. 202: 'Archaeological Journal' xiii. 87; xix 326; 'Victoria County History: Northants, vol. i, p. 253; H. Clifford Smith, 'Jewellery', p. 72 and pl. xiii, fig. 6.; Wilson 1964 Found while spearing for eel in the River Nene immediately under the Great Northern Railway viaduct, about 300 metres above the site of the ancient bridge. The vendors were Peterborough jewellers but the provenance is confirmed by a letter, from an interested Peterborough antiquary to Sir Augustus Franks, in the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities. The object is usually known as the River Nene ring. See p. 56 and pl. XXVII. Bibliography: 'Archaeological Journal', xiii, 87 and fig; Waterton, E. (1862): 'On Niello', The Archaeological Journal, xix, 326-7 and fig. 1; 'British Museum, Alfred the Great Millenary Exhibition', London 1901, 15; Smith, H. C. (1908): Jewellery, London, 72-3 and pl. xiii, 6; 'British Museum: A Guide to Anglo-Saxon . . . Antiquities . . .', London, 1923, 116 and fig. 147; 'Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire', i, 253; Oman, C. C. (1931): 'Anglo-Saxon Finger-Rings', Apollo, xiv, 105 and fig. B. 20.
Bibliographic references: Wilson 1964 / Anglo-Saxon Ornamental Metalwork 700 - 1100, in the British Museum (57); Dalton 1912 / Franks Bequest Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Mediaeval and Later, Bequeathed by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, KCB, in which are included the other rings of the same period in the Museum. (202); Tait 1976 / Jewellery Through 7000 Years (460); Tait 1986a / Seven Thousand Years of Jewellery (570)
Location: On display (G41/dc3/sA)
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2005-2006 25 Jul-13 Jan, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past 2005 12 Feb-26 Jun, Newcastle, Hancock Museum, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past 2004-2005 1 Oct-15 Jan, Manchester Museum, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past 2004 30 Apr-21 Sep, Cardiff, National Museums & Galleries of Wales, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past 2003-2004 21 Nov-14 Mar, London, BM, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
Acquisition name: Purchased from: Messrs P & W Garrat
Acquisition date: 1855
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: 1855,1115.1
Conservation: Treatment: 04 Nov 2002; Treatment: 22 Sep 2003

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