{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O123212"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O123212/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM1069/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM1069/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM1069","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM1072","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM1071","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM1070","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM1068","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM1067","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KV8714","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O123212/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O123212","accessionNumber":"2107-1855","objectType":"Ring","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Very large gilt bronze or copper rings set with glass or crystal bezels are often known as Papal rings. They are decorated with the arms of Popes or  Cardinals from the 15th century along with papal keys and tiaras and are usually distinguished by their great size and low intrinsic value. Their exact  function is unknown but it has been suggested that they were worn as credentials by mounted couriers between Popes and other church figures and  sovereigns. They served to prove the identity of the messager but were not of a value which would tempt thieves. \r\n\r\nThese rings were very popular with nineteenth century antiquarians and it is likely that out of the 100 plus surviving examples, some were made later to  satisfy the demands of collectors. ","physicalDescription":"Gilt bronze Papal ring, the rectangular bezel set with a table-cut crystal in a 6-cusp collet. The shoulders with the tiara and arms of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84) in relief and inscribed <i>SIXTVS. PAPA. QUARTVS</i> Symbols of the Evangelists on the front and back of the bezel","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gilt and engraved bronze set with a table-cut crystal","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Enslavement","id":"THES396519"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2007BM1069","2007BM1072","2007BM1071","2007BM1070","2007BM1068","2007BM1067","2018KV8714"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"91","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"6","shelf":"A","box":"21"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Ring","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"late 15th century","earliest":"1450-01-01","latest":"1500-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"4.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"4.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Engraved <i>SIXTVS. PAPA. QUARTVS</i>","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"for Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484)","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"Engraved coat of arms","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"for Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484)","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"The shoulders"}],"objectHistory":"Ex Bernal Collection: the collection of Ralph Bernal was sold at Christie's London from 5 March to 30 April 1855. \r\n\r\n<u>Provenance</u>\r\n\r\nRalph Bernal (1783-1854) was a renowned collector and objects from his collection are now in museums across the world, including the V&A. He was born into a Sephardic Jewish family of Spanish descent, but was baptised into the Christian religion at the age of 22. Bernal studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, and subsequently became a prominent Whig politician. He built a reputation for himself as a man of taste and culture through the collection he amassed and later in life he became the president of the British Archaeological Society. Yet the main source of income which enabled him to do this was the profits from enslaved labour.\r\n\r\nIn 1811, Bernal inherited three sugar plantations in Jamaica, where over 500 people were eventually enslaved. Almost immediately, he began collecting works of art and antiquities. After the emancipation of those enslaved in the British Caribbean in the 1830s, made possible in part by acts of their own resistance, Bernal was awarded compensation of more than £11,450 (equivalent to over £1.5 million today). This was for the loss of 564 people enslaved on Bernal's estates who were classed by the British government as his 'property'. They included people like Antora, and her son Edward, who in August 1834 was around five years old (The National Archives, T 71/49). Receiving the money appears to have led to an escalation of Bernal's collecting.\r\n\r\nWhen Bernal died in 1855, he was celebrated for 'the perfection of his taste, as well as the extent of his knowledge' (Christie and Manson, 1855). His collection was dispersed in a major auction during which the Museum of Ornamental Art at Marlborough House, which later became the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A), was the biggest single buyer. ","historicalContext":"These types of rings are distinguished by their massive size and low intrinsic worth. It is believed they were used as credentials by mounted couriers. The size of the rings made it possible for them to be worn over riding gloves and the low value helped preserve their wearers from attacks by robbers on the road","briefDescription":"Gilt bronze Papal ring, the rectangular bezel set with a table-cut crystal. The shoulders with the tiara and arms of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84) in relief and inscribed, Italy, late 15th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Christie and Manson, <i>Catalogue of the Celebrated Collection of Works of Art, from the Byzantine Period to that of Louis Seize, of that Distinguished Collector, Ralph Bernal</i> (London, 1855)","id":"AUTH403540"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Slave Registers: Jamaica: St. Ann. (1) Indexed, 1832, T 71/49","id":"AUTH403536"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Hannah Young, ''The perfection of his taste': Ralph Bernal, collecting and slave-ownership in 19th-century Britain', <i>Cultural and Social History</i>, 19:1 (2022), pp. 19-37 ","id":"AUTH403542"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Bernal, Ralph","id":"C2927"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"coats of arms","id":"AAT126352"},{"text":"tiara (papal)","id":"x36261"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["2107-1855"],"accessionNumberNum":"2107","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1855,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2018LB9899","2019LN4188","2019LR0537","2019LT7215","2019LW7584"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2006-04-21","availableToBook":false}}