Inside the memorial rings of the time was often a motto or posy,
appropriate for the purpose, sometimes rhyming:--
Prepared be
To follow me;
or
I restless live, yet hope to see
That day of Christ, and then see thee.
Rings of this kind, commonly known as mourning rings, were frequently
given, together with gloves and hat-bands, to those who attended at
funerals. They were inscribed, in addition to a posy, with the initials
of the deceased and the date. Evelyn at his son's funeral in 1658
distributed a number of rings with the motto "Dominus abstulit." At
Pepys' funeral upwards of a hundred and thirty rings were given to
friends and relatives.
Mention must be made, amongst other memorial jewellery, of the various
objects worn in memory of Charles I. Most of these are finger rings
containing a portrait of the ill-fated monarch, which were made and
worn by Royalists after his execution. Some are so contrived that the
portrait can only be discovered by opening a lid formed of a table
diamond. They were doubtless used by those for whom devotion of the
kind was dangerous. Other jewels worn in memory of the Royal Martyr were
heart-shaped lockets, inscribed and decorated in a suitably funereal
manner with skulls, cross-bones, and like emblems.
An important group of ornaments, dating from the time of Charles II to
that of Queen Anne, are those in the form of small memorial brooches,
lockets, bracelet clasps, buttons, and slides with loops at the back for
attachment to a velvet band. They are of considerable interest in that
they represent almost the only surviving examples of English jewellery
of the time. The Franks Bequest in the British Museum contains several
specimens. They usually have letters in a fine filigree of gold entwined
in a monogram, laid on a ground of crimson silk, and covered with a
thick crystal set in gold. The gold filigree, which is of extraordinary
delicacy, is often laid on braids of hair arranged in various designs,
and accompanied by the skull and cross-bones. The crystal covering is
sometimes cut in table form, but is more often rose-cut. The locket
surrounded with pearls shown on Plate XLIV has on its surface no less
than a hundred facets.
Memorial rings of the same period have bezels with similar designs
beneath a rose diamond or faceted crystal. Their hoops are mostly
enamelled black on the shoulders. In the second quarter of the
eighteenth century the mortuary emblems of skull and cross-bones in
general disappear. The hoop of the ring is shaped in the form of a
scroll or ribbon, and set with a small diamond, a coloured stone, or
usually a white crystal. Around the hoop is inscribed in enamel the
name and age of the deceased, and date of death. Black enamel was
used for those who had been married; while white was employed for the
unmarried--just as it was the practice at the funeral of an unmarried
man or woman for the mourners and attendants to be clothed in white.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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