Renaissance Intaglio Ring

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Renaissance Intaglio Ring

About the Item

This very large and colorful Renaissance ring with traces of blue, green, red, white, and black enamel is set with an agate intaglio portrait of a man in profile in a high octagonal bezel. The rear of the bezel is sculpted in the form of a rosette with a center square enameled in red. Respectively from the collections of Ernst Guillou and Ralph Harari (1893-1969), this ring has an important provenance (see introduction). Today, relatively few rings are in circulation from these two collections, the former dispersed in 1937 (London, Sotheby's) and the latter exhibited (June 1976), then catalogued and published (1977) by Diana Scarisbrick and John Boardman for S. J. Phillips Ltd., who acquired and sold the Harari collection. Politician, banker, business man and art collector, Harari had a special interest in engraved gems, cameos and intaglios, which perhaps accounts for his acquisition of the present ring, a fine example of a Renaissance cusped ring with half crescents, volutes and strapwork, but unusual in that it is adorned with an eighteenth-century intaglio. Probably the original ring had lost its stone. The extreme fragility of enamel, which has often worn away, makes it difficult to determine the original appearance of Renaissance rings. It is often assumed that most Renaissance rings of this or similar models possessed multicolored enamels, but evidence in paintings suggests otherwise. A Flemish portrait from the circle of Frans Pourbus (Private Collection, ex-Rafael Valls), datable to [15]79, shows a woman wearing two box bezel and cusped rings entirely void of enamel. Evidence from other northern European portraits also suggests a limited palette, sometimes just in black and white enamel. On the other hand, Italian portraits from the same period, such as a painting entitled La Bella Nani by Paolo Veronese of c. 1560-65 (Paris, Musee du Louvre), show rings with multi-colored enamel, such as appears on the present ring. Further systematic study of paintings showing rings would potentially reveal valuable information about the use of enamel in Renaissance rings, which may have been distinctly different in northern and southern Europe, information that would supplement what we can learn from the rings themselves. Weight 6.45 grams Height 29 mm.; hoop inner diam. 18.6 mm.; hoop outer diam. 24 mm.; bezel 15 x 17 mm.

Place of Origin:
Italy
Date of Manufacture:
mid 16th century (intaglio 18th century)
Condition:
Despite a few losses to the enamel, this ring with its sophisticated decoration and complex techniques of fabrication is in an excellent state of conservation.
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: PC 341stDibs: JU12020127930