{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O121618"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O121618/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BL8522/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BL8522/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BL8522","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BL8523","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BG2774","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA6940","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA6954","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA7008","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O121618/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O121618","accessionNumber":"693-1871","objectType":"Ring","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Rings engraved with religious figures or scenes are often known as ‘iconographic rings’. They were decorated with the popular saints of the middle ages: Catherine, Barbara, Christopher, George and Margaret as well as figures of the Virgin Mary, Christ or the Three Kings. These rings were worn as a sign of faith but were also believed to offer protection from both spiritual and earthly dangers. Pregnant women prayed to St Margaret for a safe delivery whilst travellers appealed to St Christopher. Rings with a ridged hoop divided into two or three panels are generally believed to be English. \n\nThe bezel of this ring is engraved with the Trinity, showing God the Father holding the crucified Christ. The Holy Dove is at his shoulder. The shoulders are engraved with the Pieta - the Virgin Mary holding the body of Christ, and St Anne with the young Virgin.  It was found at Orford Castle, Suffolk in the mid 19th century. \r\n\nThis ring forms part of a collection of over 600 rings and engraved gems from the collection of Edmund Waterton (1830-81). Waterton was one of the foremost ring collectors of the nineteenth century and was the author of several articles on rings, a book on English devotion to the Virgin Mary and an unfinished catalogue of his collection (the manuscript is now the National Art Library). Waterton was noted for his extravagance and financial troubles caused him to place his collection in pawn with the    London jeweller Robert Phillips. When he was unable to repay the loan, Phillips offered to sell the collection to the Museum and it was acquired in 1871. A small group of rings which Waterton had held back were acquired in 1899.\n","physicalDescription":"Gold ring, depicting the Trinity, the Pietà, and St. Anne with the Virgin.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"}],"techniques":[{"text":"engraving (incising)","id":"AAT53829"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Engraved gold","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2007BL8522","2007BL8523","2006BG2774","2017KA6940","2017KA6954","2017KA7008"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"91 (VA)","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"5","shelf":"D","box":"16"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Ring","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1500-1550","earliest":"1500-01-01","latest":"1550-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"From the Waterton Collection. Exhibited Thursday March 8th, 1855 to the Society of Antiquaries and recorded in the Proceedings:\r\n‘Edmund Waterton , Esq. F.S.A. exhibited Seven Rings, five of gold and two of silver, from his Collection, found at different places. One, of the gold, representing the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, and St Anne and a Pieta, dug up at Orford Abbey; and another set with a Sapphire on which is engraved a veiled female head, around which is the legend in Gothic characterss, TECTA. LEGE. LECTA. TEGE. One of the silver rings, dug up at Bury St Edmund’s in 1853, had a monogram.’ \n\nReported to have been found at Orford Castle and subsequently in the possession of the Rev. S. Blois Turner. Shown at the 1862 Special Loan Exhibition at South Kensington Museum. \r\n\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Gold ring, depicting the Trinity, the Pietà, and St. Anne with the Virgin, England, 1500-50.","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. 735, pl. XXX"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jones, William Tudor <u>Finger-Ring Lore: Historical, Legendary, Anecdotal </u>, Chatto and Windus, 1877, p. 254"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"South Kensington Museum Catalogue of Special Exhibition, 1862, p. 630"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Archaeological Journal, vii, 1850, p. 89"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Anne (Saint)","id":"N404"},{"text":"Mary (Virgin Mary)","id":"N480"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"The Pietà","id":"V309"}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"Trinity, doctrine in Christianity","id":"x35214"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["693-1871"],"accessionNumberNum":"693","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1871,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2017KD8910","2019LU2245"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2006-03-02","availableToBook":false}}