Medieval Ring Brooch
, France or England, 14th century
Medieval Ring Brooch
Description
Flat gold hoop with cabled outer rim and niello-filled framing the five groups of Lombard letters the make up the inscription with four interspersed niello rosettes; the fastening pin mounted with a simple loop and bearing the French control mark ‘ET’ denoting it has travelled through a French assay office in the nineteenth century. The inscription‘+RV/.NLVA/ TEMIGOR/ .VGDEI/NE’ thought to be a cipher, which has yet to be decoded; in excellent condition.
Provenance:
Comtesse Martine-Marie-Octavie Pol de Béhague (1870-1939), Paris; thence by descent to Marquis Jean-Louis Hubert de Ganay (1922-2013), France (see Antiquités et Objets d'Art: Collection de Martine, Comtesse de Béhague, Provenant de la Succession du Marquis de Ganay, Sotheby's, Monaco, 5 December 1987, lot 205); Private English Collection.
Literature:
For a detailed study of brooches, including the ring brooch, see R. Lightbown, Medieval Jewellery, and on the “ring” or circle design, pp. 147-158. As Lightbown explains, “the ring brooch was broadly speaking the simplest and least assuming of mediaeval brooches, since it was essentially a practical fastener” (p. 147). The ring design typology includes many types, the pure circle (shown here), as well as quatrefoil, hexagonal, and wheel-like variations. Stones are often set in flat or raised collets. Many are inscribed with Lombardic letters (as here), some with amorous, others with religious inscriptions. Symbols, heraldic devices, and mottos also appear on the “ring” brooch. A ring brooch with similarly engraved decoration but set with gemstones can be found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Accession Number: 2018.355
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/773198; compare also the ring brooch with similar cabling in the British Museum, inv. 1929,1021.1, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1929-1021-1, dating to the fourteenth century. See also the ring brooch with rosettes and without gemstones in the Victoria and Albert Museum Ring Brooch | Unknown | V&A Explore The Collections M.50-1975, published in Marian Campbell, Medieval Jewellery, p. 57, fig. 55