{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1771180"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1771180/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NW7001/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NW7001/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NW7001","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NW7002","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NW7003","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NW6999","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NW7004","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1771180/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1771180","accessionNumber":"M.16-2024","objectType":"Mourning ring","titles":[{"title":"Mourning Ring to William Pitt the Younger","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"From the early seventeenth to the end of the nineteenth century, testators left money in their wills to have rings with commemorative inscriptions made and distributed to their friends and families. Hair from the deceased was often incorporated into the designs or set in a compartment at the back of the ring to give each jewel a uniquely personal element.\n\nThis early 19th century ring commemorates the death of William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), son of Thomas Pitt the Elder, and British Prime Minister from 1783-1801 and again from 1804-1806. Pitt was the youngest-ever Prime Minister at the age of 24, and his premierships took place during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. \n\nStylistically, this mourning ring is typical of the early 19th century: the broad hoop, split into parts and the large rectangular bezel are seen fairly frequently in rings of around 1800. The plaited hair and border of regularly set gems, as well as the inscription to William Pitt on the reverse of the bezel, makes it likely to have been a memorial ring. There is a very good likelihood that the hair inside the bezel is Pitt’s. \n\nThere is a sapphire and diamond ring, dated c. 1800, in Diana Scarisbrick’s ‘Rings: Symbols of Wealth, Power and Affection’ (p. 170) which is very similar to this ring. Stylistically, the ring to the memory of Edward, Lord Thurloe (d. 1806), is also very similar. The Thurloe ring is in the collections of the V&A, accession number M.165-1962.\n","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"hair","id":"AAT11814"},{"text":"rock crystal","id":"AAT11152"},{"text":"diamond","id":"AAT11084"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"},{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"},{"text":"English","id":"THES275052"},{"text":"Memorials","id":"THES292678"},{"text":"Politics","id":"THES48908"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2024NW7001","2024NW7002","2024NW7003","2024NW6999","2024NW7004"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES407866"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"ring","id":"x43339"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1806-1815","earliest":"1806-01-01","latest":"1815-12-31"},"association":{"text":"Made","id":"x28654"},"note":"This suggestion of date is based on the year of Pitt's death (1806) and stylistic analysis of the object. "}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given in memory of Joseph Philip Gibbs (1977-2019) by his father. ","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Willm. Pitt ob. Jan. 23. 1805","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"William Pitt, died January 23 1805","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"The inscription has incorrectly recorded the year of Pitt's death as 1805. A mistake of this sort on an item of mourning jewellery is unusual and raises questions regarding who commissioned the ring to be made: one would expect a ring made under the supervision of family members or executors of the subject's will to get this information correct. \n\nRachel Church, scholar of rings, has suggested that 'the ring was either made for a more distant recipient or that a lock of hair was sent to a servant or admirer and then made into a ring'. "}],"objectHistory":"This ring was made to commemorate the death of William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806). It is highly likely thatt the ring  contains the hair of Pitt himself. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Mourning ring to William Pitt the Younger, metal, diamond, and human hair, England (probably), early 19th century","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"William Pitt the Younger","id":"N1622"},{"text":"","id":""}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.16-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"16","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-31","recordCreationDate":"2024-01-22","availableToBook":false}}