{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O125925"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O125925/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BL1946/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BL1946/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BL1946","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BL1948","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA7039","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O125925/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O125925","accessionNumber":"920-1871","objectType":"Mourning ring","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"A devout Christian in sixteenth century Europe would be conscious of the fragility of life and the ever present threat of death, through disease, accident or if lucky, old age. Christians therefore felt the need to prepare their souls for everlasting judgment through prayer and reflection.  'Memento mori'  (remember you must die) inscriptions and devices such as hourglasses, skulls, crossbones and skeletons became fashionable  on many types of jewellery. A ring worn on the finger would be a daily reminder to prepare for life in the world to come. Rings decorated with this funereal imagery were also left in wills to family and friends. \n\nIn the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the practice of bequeathing rings belonging to the deceased to friends and family was gradually replaced by the custom of leaving a sum of money to buy commemorative and mourning rings. Later in the  seventeenth century, rings were distributed at the funeral service to be worn in memory of the deceased. \n\nThe inscription on this ring reads: 'Nosse te psum', a variation on 'Nosce te ipsum' or 'know yourself', which was a popular motto on memento mori jewellery. In 1617, the will of Nicholas Fenay of Yorkshire describes a ring which was  to be left to his son:\r\n<i>'having these letters NF for my name thereupon ingraved with this notable poesie about the same letters NOSCE TEIPSUM [sic know thyself] to the  intent that my said son William Fenay in the often beholding and considering of that worthy poesye may be the better put in mynde of himselfe and  of his estate knowing this that to know a man's selfe is the beginning of wisdom'.</i> The inscription 'Dye to lyve' refers to the need to give up earthly life in favour of eternal life in Heaven. \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":"Enamelled gold mourning ring, the hexagonal bezel with incurving sides, enamelled in white with a skull surrounded by the inscription <i>+ NOSSE TE. YPSUM</i> and on the edge <i> + DYE TO LYVE</i> with volutes and foliated shoulders enamelled in black","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"enamel","id":"AAT14910"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Enamelled gold","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Death","id":"THES48970"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006BL1946","2006BL1948","2017KA7039"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"91","id":"THES49703"},"free":"","case":"8","shelf":"D","box":"17"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Ring","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1550-1600","earliest":"1550-01-01","latest":"1600-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"2.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"1.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"inscribed <i>+ NOSSE TE. PSUM</i>","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"'Know thyself'","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"inscribed <i> + DYE TO LYVE</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":"on the edge"}],"objectHistory":"Ex Waterton Collection. The custom of wearing a memento mori ring was obviously well known in sixteenth century England. Shakespeare alludes to it when Falstaff urges Mistress Tearsheet not to speak like a death's head in Henry Iv (act II, scene 4) and in <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i>, Lord Biron compares the schoolmaster Holofernes to 'a death's head in a ring' (Act 2, scene 2). A less known play by Marston, <i>The Dutch Courtesan</i>, 1605, alludes to the fate of the courtesans thus: \"As for their death, how can it be bad, since their wickedness is always before their eyes, and a death's head most commonly seen on their middle finger'.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Enamelled gold ring, the hexagonal bezel enamelled with a skull and the inscription <i>+ NOSSE TE. YPSUM</i> (Know yourself) and 'Dye to lyve' with volutes and foliated shoulders enamelled in black, England, about 1550-1600.","bibliographicReferences":[{"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. 507"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Oman, Charles, <u>Catalogue of rings in the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>, London, 1930, reprinted Ipswich, 1993, p. 112, cat. 740a"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bury, Shirley, <u>Jewellery Gallery Summary Catalogue </u> (Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982), 34/F/1"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"foliation (pattern)","id":"AAT165104"},{"text":"volutes","id":"AAT1729"},{"text":"skull (skeleton component)","id":"AAT191856"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"Death","id":"x30761"},{"text":"Memento mori","id":"x34926"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["920-1871"],"accessionNumberNum":"920","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1871,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LW9699"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2006-07-11","availableToBook":false}}