Gothic Signet Ring

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Gothic Signet Ring

About the Item

Inscribed on an amethyst in the form of a mandorla in Lombardic letters is: Œ S IOH[annis]IS FULGI PRIORIS ASIS (seal of Giovanni di Fulgineo, Prior of Assisi). Engraved in intaglio, the prior kneels in the lower register, a sun and a crescent moon repeated together on either side of him, while the Virgin and Child are enthroned in the upper register. The gold mount is modern.

The mandorla form of the present ring relates it directly to seal-dies for noble persons as well as ecclesiastical officials and institutions, in use from the twelfth century onward. What is interesting about the present intaglio, however, is its iconography. According to a letter dated May 10, 1345 from the Bishop of Verona, executing a bull of Pope Clement VI, Giovanni di Fulgineo succeeded Guido di Puccio as Prior of San Rufino of Assisi in that year. The Cathedral of Assisi, San Rufino, of which Giovanni became prior, was dedicated to the early Christian first bishop of Assisi and was important in the history of the Franciscan Order. Saint Francis himself (in 1182), as well as Saint Clare (in 1193), and many of their disciples were baptized here, and Saint Francis continued to preach and pray here.

Constructed from 1140, according to designs of the architect Giovanni da Gubbio, the Umbrian Romanesque Cathedral was actually the third church to be built on the site. Its elaborate facade from the late twelfth century, completed c. 1201, is attributed to the Maestro di S. Rufino, working under the patronage of Henry VI and his wife Constance of Sicily, all three of whom are depicted in the lunette on the central portal. Giovanni di Fulgineo’s signet ring borrows directly from the iconography of the lunette, which is itself inspired by the apocalyptic writings of Joachim of Fiore (born c. 1130/35; died c. 1201/02), especially his Tractatus super Quattuor Evangeli, which had a profound influence on the Spiritual Franciscans. In the main portal, Christ in Majesty occupies the center of the lunette, a sun and a moon sculpted on either side of him, while on his right appears the seated lactating Virgin, toward whom he gestures, and on the left there is a standing figure of Saint Rufinus. The motifs of the sun and moon are repeated on the lateral portals.

Joachim’s text invests the sun and the moon with multi-layered symbolism. They refer to the double nature of Christ, human and divine, temporal and celestial: the sun stands for Christ and the moon for the Church and the Virgin, or Mother Church. As the moon receives the light from the sun, so Mother Church receives the light from Christ. The moon likewise refers to the Woman of the Apocalypse, identified as the Virgin standing on the crescent moon. Joachim, like Saint Francis, promised a new age of humankind, an age of the spirit. Along with sculpted symbols of the sun and the moon, the allegory is reiterated in an epigraph on the central portal, emphasizing the importance of the heavenly symbols: ANNO DOMINI M.CC.I/ MENSE IUNII/ SIDERA. SOL. LUNA/ MONSTRANT SUA TEMPORA PURA (The year of Our Lord 1201, in the month of June, stars, sun, moon, reflecting their clear lights). By directly acknowledging in the lower register the imagery of the central portal of the Cathedral of which he is prior, Giovanni di Fulgineo’s seal affirms the double nature of Christ. In the upper register, the Virgin and Child, borrowed from an imagery that recalls the painting by Cimabue from the Lower Church of Assisi from 1278-80 and repeated elsewhere, Giovanni avows his allegiance as custodian of Mother Church.

Weight 18.36 grams
Height 30 mm.; hoop inner diam. 20 mm.; hoop outer diam. 26 mm; bezel 27 x 20 mm.

Date of Manufacture:
c. 1350 (after 1345)
Condition:
excellent.
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: PC 211stDibs: JU12020127925