A fine and rare 15th century gold iconographic ring
Iconographic rings are quite rare in themselves but his one stands out further for two reasons:
Firstly, the subject is St.Michael, which is far more unusual than the often found (relatively speaking!) Virgin and Child, St Christopher and St Barbara, but even more exciting is the inscription inside "Elle Me Plest" (sic) She Pleases Me with traces of white enamel
To the best of my knowledge, this inscription is previously unrecorded. The rings themselves are peculiarly British and yet there is no record of a similar inscription in either the British Museum or the V&A. The Oxford University Press published a book of hundreds of English posies in 1931, with a forward by Dame Joan Evans - nor is there a record of a similar inscription there, so this example could possibly be unique.
slightly under 6mm wide, 4g and finger size UK - M, US - 6
Sold
A fine and rare 15th century gold iconographic ring
Iconographic rings are quite rare in themselves but his one stands out further for two reasons:
Firstly, the subject is St.Michael, which is far more unusual than the often found (relatively speaking!) Virgin and Child, St Christopher and St Barbara, but even more exciting is the inscription inside "Elle Me Plest" (sic) She Pleases Me with traces of white enamel
To the best of my knowledge, this inscription is previously unrecorded. The rings themselves are peculiarly British and yet there is no record of a similar inscription in either the British Museum or the V&A. The Oxford University Press published a book of hundreds of English posies in 1931, with a forward by Dame Joan Evans - nor is there a record of a similar inscription there, so this example could possibly be unique.
slightly under 6mm wide, 4g and finger size UK - M, US - 6
Sold