Collection online

locket / finger-ring

• Object type

  • locket
  • finger-ring

• Museum number

  AF.1439

• Description

  Finger-ring; gold; shoulders with scrolls reserved on ground of black enamel; oval bezel opening as locket, containing enamelled portrait of Charles I with blue ground; lid has table diamond in square setting on ground with scrolls on black enamel; edges and back of bezel are also enamelled in black.

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• Date

  • 17thC

• Materials

  • gold
  • enamel
  • diamond

• Technique

  • enamelled

• Dimensions

  • Diameter: 0.74 inches (hoop)
  • Length: 0.5 inches (bezel)
  • Weight: 48 grains

• Curator's comments

  See curator's comments for next item AF 1440, Dalton 1366 for Lord Braybrooke's reference to Lady Londesborough's rings.
  The Londesborough Collection catalogue 218 describes it as, 'Gold with square table-faced diamond on an oval face, which opens, and reveals, beneath, a portrait of Charles I in enamel. The face of the ring, its back, and side portions of the shank, engraved with scroll work, filled in with black enamel. purchased by Lord Londesborough from a dealer for £10.'
  Mr Crofton Croker then refers to a similar ring sold at the Strawberry Hill auction, lot 59, which had belonged to Horace Walpole. Dalton mistakenly identifies this ring no.1365 in his catalogue as the Walpole ring. It could be Dalton 1361, which fits the description but clearer provenance is needed.
  M.Lincoln, ed. Samuel Pepys, Plague, Fire and Revolution, NMMuseum London 2015, cat.11, suggesting this was made shortly after Charles I's execution.

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• Bibliography

  • Dalton 1912 1365

• Location

  On display: G46/dc11/p4/no15

• Exhibition history

  Exhibited:
  2015-2016 20 Nov-28 Mar, London, National Maritime Museum, Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution 2011 23 June-9 Oct, London, BM, 'Treasures of Heaven' 1993 11 Jun-3 Oct, Belgium, Antwerp, Museum voor Kunstambachten Sterckshof, A Sparkling Age

• Associated names

  • Representation of: Charles I, King of England

• Acquisition name

  • Bequeathed by: Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks
  • Previous owner/ex-collection: Lady Ursula Lucy Grace Londesborough

• Acquisition date

  1897

• Acquisition notes

  Not the ring originally owned by Horace Walpole. Dalton misunderstood Crofton Croker's notes in the Londesborough catalogue..

• Department

  Britain, Europe and Prehistory

• Registration number

  AF.1439

• Additional IDs

  • Londesborough Collection 218