Several other Saxon rings are preserved in the British Museum. Among
them is one with a plain hoop and beaded edges, bearing around it in
gold letters on a nielloed ground an inscription recording the name of
the owner, Ethred, and the maker Eanred. It was found in Lancashire, and
bequeathed to the museum by Sir Hans Sloane in 1753. Another ring (found
near Peterborough in the River Nene) is peculiar for having two bezels
opposite each other. Both sides of the hoop and each bezel are engraved
with interlaced designs inlaid with niello. The bezels are each flanked
by three small beads of gold--a characteristic ornamentation of a
certain class of Teutonic and Merovingian rings, termed by the French
_bagues à trois grains_. In the Victoria and Albert Museum is a silver
ring of unusual form. It has an oval bezel 1¼ inches in length,
engraved with convoluted ornament in five divisions, the centre being
filled with a serpent-headed monster. It was found in the Thames at
Chelsea in 1856. A type of ring which occurs more than once is formed of
a hoop, which widens gradually into a large oval bezel ornamented with
bands of rich plaited goldwork. One of these rings, found at Bossington,
near Stockbridge, is in the Ashmolean Museum. It has in the centre a
male portrait surrounded by the inscription, NOMEN EHLLA FID IN XPO (My
name is Ella; my faith is in Christ).
More remarkable, perhaps, than any of the above, on account of the
peculiar beauty of its workmanship, is a gold ring in the possession of
Lord Fitzhardinge, and preserved, together with the Hunsdon jewels, at
Berkeley Castle. It has a large bezel of quatrefoil form. In the centre
is a raised circular boss ornamented with a cross or wheel-shaped design
in beaded gold. Radiating from this centre are four heads of monsters,
inlaid with thin lines of niello, and having projecting eyes formed of
dots of dark blue and dark brown glass or enamel. The hoop of the ring,
of considerable girth, is hexagonal in section. At the junction of its
ends at the back of the bezel, immediately behind the monsters' ears, it
is finished with a graduated wire of filigree, terminating with three
small balls. The ring dates from about the tenth century. Nothing is
known concerning its discovery. It is probably Saxon, but may be of
Irish origin (Pl. XIII, 10).
Beyond these finger rings and the enamelled jewellery, we possess few
other examples of later Saxon ornaments; yet there exist a small number,
which, though executed somewhat after the manner of the older jewels,
probably belong to this later period of Saxon art. Among such ornaments
is a necklace from Desborough, Northants, and now in the British Museum.
It is formed of beads of spirally coiled gold wire. Circular pendants,
having one side convex and the other flat, alternate with gold pendants
of various shapes and sizes, set with garnets. From the centre of the
necklace hangs a cross (Pl. XII, 1).
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