{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O121030"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O121030/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BL8789/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BL8789/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BL8789","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EM3194","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BL8790","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O121030/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O121030","accessionNumber":"1374-1903","objectType":"Signet ring","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This ring would have been used as a signet, pressed into hot wax to seal a letter or packet.  Personal seals (secreta) provided an essential legal safeguard and were used to  witness documents such as wills, deeds of  gift, loans and commercial documents,  personal letters and land indentures. A letter from Lord Berengario in Verona in 906 underscores the importance of the signet:  ‘So that this may be more truly believed and more faithfully observed, we order this to be sealed with our ring, confirming it with our own hand’. \r\n\r\nSignets could be engraved with a coat of arms for those entitled to bear them, with a personal device or sign or as this ring, with an initial letter. The crowned letter I (or J) probably referred to the first name of the ring's owner. The use of initials became common on signet rings from the 14th century, often in the form of a single crowned letter. The most expensive signets were made of gold, sometimes set with an engraved gem or hardstone. Cheaper versions were made in silver or bronze. \r\n","physicalDescription":"Silver signet ring with an octagonal bezel engraved with a crowned <i>I</i> flanked by two branches","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Engraved silver","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2007BL8789","2010EM3194","2007BL8790"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"91","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"6","shelf":"A","box":"3"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Ring","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"15th century","earliest":"1400-01-01","latest":"1500-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"2.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"1.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"inscribed with a crowned <i>I</i>","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Believed to have been found at Chichester.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Silver signet ring with an octagonal bezel engraved with a crowned <i>I</i> flanked by two branches, England, 15th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Oman, Charles, <u>Catalogue of rings in the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>, London, 1930, reprinted Ipswich, 1993, cat. 538"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Church, Rachel, <u>Rings</u>, London, V&A Publishing/ Thames and Hudson, 2017, fig. 30, p. 29"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"branches (tree)","id":"x39097"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["1374-1903"],"accessionNumberNum":"1374","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1903,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2017KL0503","2019LP9603","2019LT5822","2019LW1849"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2006-02-14","availableToBook":false}}