- Museum number
- 1856,1015.1
- Description
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Gold signet-ring; engraved and enamelled; shoulders ornamented with flowers and leaves. Oval bezel set with chalcedony intaglio depicting achievement of Mary Queen of Scots: shield of Scotland surrounded by collar of thistle, supported by two unicorns; crest: crowned lion sejant affronté holding sword; dexter: banner with arms of Scotland; sinister: flag with three bars over saltire. Inscribed with a monogram surmounted by crown at back of bezel.
- Production date
- 1548-1558 (circa)
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 21.15 millimetres
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Height: 23.28 millimetres
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Weight: 13.74 grammes
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Weight: 211 grains
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Width: 19.31 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Text from Dalton 1912, Catalogue of Finger Rings, no. 316::
A.Way in Catalogue of Antiquities, Works of Art, and Historical Scottish Relics exhibited in the Museum of the Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland during their annual meeting held in Edinburgh, July, 1856 (Edinburgh, 1859), pp. 173 ff.; Sir H. Ellis in 'Archaeologia', xxxiii, p. 354.
The hoop is much worn, so that the floral scrolls are partly effaced; traces of green enamel remain in one flower. In the design at the back of the bezel, white enamel is visible in the band enclosing the cipher, translucent red on upper stroke of the M, and white in the upper stroke of the Φ; the crown may have been enamelled in black. It has been conjectured that some legend may have been painted upon the white enamel of the band. If not a motto such as 'Nemo me impune lacessit', or 'Optimam partem elegit', this may have been the anagram, 'Sa vertu m'attire', which is found round the same cipher engraved on Mary's silver hand-bell in the possession of the family of Bruce of Kennet ('Catalogue of Antiquities', as above, pp. 169-73).
The employment of Greek letters in this cipher, and in a variant used by Mary in a letter to Elizabeth, June 15,1565, is in accordance with precedent, Francis I having employed Φ, Louis XII and Louis XIII Λ (Menestrier, 'Véritable Art du Blason', p.22, Paris, 1673, and W. S.Walford, 'Archaeological Journal', xv, p. 263).
Since after her marriage in 1558 Mary no longer bore the arms of Scotland alone, while after the death of Francis she would no longer have used the cipher with his name, it may be assumed that the ring was made, probably in France, at some time in the decade between 1548 and 1558. Its history is unknown during the period between Mary's death and the year 1792 when an impression is reproduced by Astle as "from a seal of Mary Queen of Scots in the royal collection of the Queen's House"; it thus belonged at that time to Queen Charlotte. It subsequently passed into the possession of the Duke of York; on the sale of his plate and jewels at Christie's in March, 1827, it was purchased by Mr. Richard Greene, F.S.A.,(Handwritten note: 'for fourteen guineas [W. Jones, Finger Ring Lore, p. 478, London, 1877]) from whom it was acquired in 1856 by the British Museum.
Rings of this type, showing armorial bearings with their proper metals and tinctures beneath crystal, were evidently common in the second half of the sixteenth century; they may be seen, for example, in the portraits of Sir Nicholas Bacon and Cranmer in the National Portrait Gallery. Several are in the Waterton Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Large seals were executed in the same style; the Franks Bequest contains that of Alexander Seton, first Earl of Dunfermline.
Supplementary information to Dalton 1912 (annotations in various hands):
'Henrietta Maria' seal purports to be Mary. Qu. of Scots. Signet see refs under 650.
Armorial signets as engraved gems. Georgius Agricola, 'De Natura Fossilium', book vi ... nunc in onychis Germanicae execta candidi coloris crusta a scalptoibus inciduntur insignia quibus nobiles familiae gaudent ... Subliniunt autem id genus crustis eorum colorum pigmenta quae exigunt insignia
The Seton seal is described and illustrated by A.B.Tonnochy in 'Old Furniture, vol. II, pp. 60, 61.
Cat. of Seal-Dies no. B.A.A. (forthcoming volume)
Text from Dalton 1915, Catalogue of Engraved Gems:
In a gold signet.
Formerly belonging to Mary, Queen of Scots.
Text from Ward, Cherry et al, 'The Ring from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century,' London 1981, pl.210:
This signet ring of Mary Queen of Scots bears her coat of arms; the metals and tinctures on the blue ground, with which the stone is backed, show through the crystal. On the reverse of the bezel, a monogram within a circle surmounted by a crown is composed of the initials of Mary herself and her first husband, the boy-king Francis II of France, to whom she was married in 1558 and who died only two years later. Unlike many of Mary's jewels, whose whole history is known from the time of her death, nothing is known of this ring between 1587 and 1792, when it was in the possession of Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. Other examples of signet-rings of this date that show the heraldic colours through an engraved rock crystal are known (Pl. 205), for instance the seal-ring of Duke Maximillian I of Bavaria in Vienna and the 'Gresham' ring dated 1575, as well as the rings worn by Archbishop Cranmer and by Sir Matthew Parker in portraits.
Leblond suggests that this ring may have been made in France and that the monogram of the Dauphin and Mary in Greek was added inside the bezel to indicate that he, as her consort, could use the signet occasionally on documents in Scotland or in France. See catalogue of Marie Stuart at Ecouen for the ring.
- Location
- On display (G46/dc6/s2/p1/no20)
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2013 Jul-Oct, Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland, Mary, Queen of Scots
2008 15 Oct-2009 2 Feb, France, Musée Nationale de la Renaissance Château d’Ecouen, Marie Stuart
1995 May 39-Jul 22, Edinburgh, Huntly House Museum, 'Lions and Thistles'
1991 08 Aug-03 Nov, Scotland, Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland, The Art of Jewellery in Scotland.
1987 Jul 9-Dec 30, Edinburgh, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, The Queen's World
- Condition
- Very worn.
- Acquisition date
- 1856
- Acquisition notes
- He (?) bought it for 14 guineas.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1856,1015.1
