{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O122218"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O122218/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HV9091/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HV9091/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2015HV9091","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HV9092","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HV9093","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BG2793","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HL7896","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA7043","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O122218/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O122218","accessionNumber":"502-1871","objectType":"Signet ring","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This simple gold ring is inscribed 'Itere felix'. This may be a misunderstanding of the phrase 'Utere felix', meaning 'Use happily' or 'use with luck'. This was one of the most common inscriptions found on Roman objects, seen on bottles, spoons, rings and brooches and also on military equipment. This ring was probably a gift or a good luck token but later versions of the inscription could be combined with Christian symbols such as the Chi-Rho or the cross.\n\nIn the early days of the Roman republic, the right to wear jewellery was strictly controlled. Citizens were permitted to wear iron rings whilst ambassadors alone could wear gold. These prohibitions were gradually eroded and by the early Imperial period, gold and gemstones were widely worn. Periodic attempts were made to reign in extravagance but the frequency with which these sumptuary laws were restated suggests that they were mostly ignored. \n\nThis ring forms part of a collection of 760 rings and engraved gems from the collection of Edmund Waterton (1830-87). 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. ","physicalDescription":"Gold signet ring, the applied oval bezel inscribed <i>ITERE FELIX</i>","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"}],"techniques":[{"text":"engraving","id":"AAT53829"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Engraved gold","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[{"text":"Roman (style or period)","id":"AAT20533"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2015HV9091","2015HV9092","2015HV9093","2006BG2793","2015HL7896","2017KA7043"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"021","id":"THES407883"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Ring","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Europe","id":"x28842"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2nd century","earliest":"0100-01-01","latest":"0200-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"2","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":"0.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"inscribed <i>ITERE FELIX</i>","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"'good journey'","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Ex Waterton Collection and exhibited at the Ironmongers Hall in 1861. In that catalogue Waterton said: \"I am of opinion that the posy ring is of Roman origin. Many intaligie, with short mottoes in Greek and Latin are found mounted in rings; each class of these may be termed Roman for the Romans used Greek for inscriptions, as French was used in England in the XIVth and XVth centuries. Sometimes the motto is cut into the metal.\" \n\nThe inscription 'Itere felix' may be a variation on 'Utere felix' or 'Uti felix' (Use happily or Use with luck), one of the most common inscriptions on Roman domestic objects, jewellery and military equipment. In Britain, the most notable example is found on a gold bracelet from the Hoxne hoard, now in the British Museum which bears the inscription 'Utere felix domina Juliane'.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Gold signet ring, the applied oval bezel inscribed <i>ITERE FELIX</i>, Roman, 2nd 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, p. 53, cat. 102"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>A catalogue of the antiquities and works of art exhibited at Ironmongers Hall  in the month of May 1861</u>, edited by George Russell French, London 1869, vol ii, p.494"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bury, Shirley, <u>Jewellery Gallery Summary Catalogue </u> (Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982), 32/ D/ 18"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"List of the objects in the art division, South Kensington museum, acquired in the year 1869"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Waterton, Edmund \"Posy rings\", The Archaeological Journal, Volume 16, pp. 307-317"}],"production":"Roman","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["502-1871"],"accessionNumberNum":"502","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1871,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2016JC5030","2019LP7390","2019LT1135","2019LU6646"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-12-15","recordCreationDate":"2006-03-21","availableToBook":false}}