signet-ring
- Museum number
- 1855,1201.13
- Description
-
Signet-ring; silver; engraved; nielloed; massive hoop with ridged edges; shoulders decorated with figures: one side depicts Virgin and Child, the other depicts bishop(St Thomas à Becket?); circular bezel depicts ship with ermine sails and monogram, within cabled border.
- Production date
- 15thC(late)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 0.66 inches (bezel)
-
Diameter: 1.18 inches
-
Weight: 31.702 grammes
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Text from Dalton 1912, Catalogue of Finger Rings
Cf. a gold ring in the Victoria and Albert Museum (no. 695-'71), with the Virgin and Child, and St Christopher.
Text from Ward, Cherry et al, 'The Ring from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century,' London 1981, pl.173.
This large silver signet-ring is engraved on the circular bezel with a ship and a tun (barrel), which is probably a pun on the name Shipton. The black-letter initials 'TS', also engraved on the bezel, confirm this interpretation. On the shoulders are figures of a bishop (probably St Thomas a Becket) and the Virgin and Child. Traces of niello remain on these figures and on the hoop. The combination of the elaborate device on the signet with the religious figures on the shoulders of the ring is very similar to the ring in Plate 174, and it is possible that they are from the same workshop..
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1855
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1855,1201.13