Antique Gold Renaissance Gemstone Ring

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Antique Gold Renaissance Gemstone Ring

About the Item

Renaissance Rock Crystal Ring Western Europe, about 1580-1600 Gold, rock crystal, enamel Weight 9.0 gr.; circumference 57.65 mm; US size 8 1/2; UK size Q 1/2 Gold ring with a D-section hoop widening to the capital-shaped shoulders with elaborate scrollwork and black and blue enamel. These support the underside of the rectangular bezel with an inverted pyramidal base and hatched pattern showing traces of black enamel. The box setting with edging in blue enamel and a lobed rim in black enamel holds a table-cut rock crystal stone. Traces and loss of enamel through age and wear. Classic Renaissance gemstone ring, its sculpted shoulders and cusped box bezel setting off a table cut rock crystal, then considered a perfectly respectable substitute for the more expensive diamond which it imitates. In Renaissance Europe the betrothal or wedding ring included a diamond, or alternatively a rock crystal. This custom goes back as far as the thirteenth century and is similar to the popular solitaire diamond ring today. The shape of the ring itself symbolized eternity, and the diamond virtue and constancy in marriage. Diamonds at the time came from the Golconda mines in faraway India, whilst rock crystals with their translucency and whiteness resembling diamonds were mined in Europe, foremost in the Alpine regions of Switzerland, southern Germany, and France. Renaissance goldsmiths drew the inspiration for their jewelry designs from ornamental prints and published design books. These books traversed borders as much as the jewelers who worked in various European countries. Thus, the style becomes pan European and the attribution almost impossible. Literature: Similar rings set with either diamonds, rubies or rock crystal can be found in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Taylor and Scarisbrick 1978, no. 672); Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Cologne (Chadour and Joppien 1985, vol. II, no. 251); Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna (inv. no. F 653) and in the Alice and Louis Koch Collection, Swiss National Museum, Zurich (Chadour 1994, vol.1, no. 689) and in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (Stolleis and Himmelheber 1977, no. 81 found in the burial chamber of the Countess Palatine Catharina Sophia, who died in 1608).

Ring Size:
8.5 US, Not Resizable
Metal:
Gold
Stone:
Rock Crystal
Stone Cut:
Square Cut
Weight:
9 g
Style:
Renaissance
Period:
16th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1580-1600
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Chicago, IL
Reference Number:
Seller: R-08621stDibs: LU2334213118382