RINGS
_By GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ, Ph.D., Sc.D., A.M._
THE CURIOUS LORE OF
PRECIOUS STONES
Being a description of their sentiments and folklore, superstitions,
symbolism, mysticism, use in protection, prevention, religion and
divination, crystal gazing, birth-stones, lucky stones and talismans,
astral, zodiacal, and planetary.
THE MAGIC OF JEWELS
AND CHARMS
Magic jewels and electric gems; meteorites or celestial stones; stones
of healing: fabulous stones: concretions and fossils; snake stones and
bezoars; charms of ancient and modern times; facts and fancies about
precious stones.
EACH: Profusely illustrated in color, doubletone and line. Octavo.
Handsome cloth binding, gilt top, in a box. $6.00 net. Carriage
charges extra.
SHAKESPEARE AND
PRECIOUS STONES
Treating of the known references to precious stones in Shakespeare’s
works, with comments as to the origin of his material, the knowledge
of the poet concerning precious stones, and references as to where the
precious stones of his time came from.
Four illustrations. Square Octavo. Decorated cloth. $1.25 net.
[Illustration:
THE MAHARANI OF SIKKIM (NORTHEASTERN HINDUSTAN)
She wears two gold rings, one set with a turquoise, the other
with coral. The peculiar crown of gold, turquoise and coral is
that adopted for the queens of Sikkim. From the necklace of amber
beads hangs a gau, or charm box, set with rubies, lapis-lazuli,
and turquoise.
Oil painting by Damodar Dutt, a Bengali artist
Dr. Berthold Laufer’s “Notes on Turquoise in the East,” Chicago,
1913]
[Illustration:
RINGS
FOR THE FINGER
FROM THE EARLIEST KNOWN TIMES TO THE PRESENT,
WITH FULL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ORIGIN, EARLY
MAKING, MATERIALS, THE ARCHÆOLOGY, HISTORY,
FOR AFFECTION, FOR LOVE, FOR ENGAGEMENT,
FOR WEDDING, COMMEMORATIVE, MOURNING, ETC.
BY
GEORGE FREDERICK KUNZ,
Ph.D., Sc.D., A.M.
WITH 290 ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR, DOUBLETONE AND LINE
[Illustration]
PHILADELPHIA & LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1917]
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
PUBLISHED JANUARY, 1917
PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U.S.A.
COOPER UNION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
OF SCIENCE AND ART EDITION
OF
RINGS
(See Dedication)
_Limited to fifteen copies_
[1]Miss Sarah Cooper Hewitt, Honorary Associate of the Trustees
[1]Mrs. James O. Green, Honorary Associate of the Trustees
[1]Miss Eleanor G. Hewitt, Honorary Associate of the Trustees
[1]Peter Cooper Hewitt, Vice-President of the U. S. Naval Advisory
Board, Trustee
[1]Edward R. Hewitt, Treasurer
[2]Peter Cooper Bryce, Secretary
[1]Erskine Hewitt,
R. Fulton Cutting, President
Andrew Carnegie, Trustee
J. Pierpont Morgan, Trustee
Charles W. Gould, Trustee
L. C. Levin Jordan, Assistant Secretary
Charles R. Richards, Director
One Copy for the Reading Room of the Cooper Union
for the Advancement of Science and Art
George Frederick Kunz, Former Student and Assistant in Chemistry
_This copy was printed for_
MISS SARAH COOPER HEWITT
_With the compliments of the Author_
To
PETER COOPER
AND TO
HIS DESCENDANTS
WHO HAVE SO GENEROUSLY AND DEVOTEDLY
CARRIED OUT HIS TRADITIONS, AND DEVELOPED
THEM AS OCCASION DEMANDED,
AND TO
THE COOPER UNION OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
IN THE LABORATORIES, LECTURE ROOMS AND
LIBRARY OF WHICH THE AUTHOR SPENT
USEFUL, PROFITABLE EVENING HOURS FOR
SEVERAL YEARS, AT A TIME WHEN THERE
WERE NO OTHER OPPORTUNITIES OF A SIMILAR
NATURE IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK--THIS
VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
FOREWORD
The present volume aims to offer in attractive and convenient
form everything that is of importance and interest in regard to
finger-rings, from the fabled ring of Prometheus down to the latest
productions of the goldsmiths and jewellers of our day.
The subject offers a striking illustration of the wonderful diversity
of form, decoration and usage, that the skill and fancy of man have
been able to realize in the case of the little circlet constituting
a ring. To make this clearer to the reader, a division in accordance
with the general history and the special uses of rings has seemed
more effective than any attempt to separate all the material along
geographical or chronological lines.
One of the earliest uses to which rings were put was for the impression
of an engraved design or device upon letters or documents, as the
sign-manual of the wearer. From the time of the ancient Egyptians,
this use prevailed in various parts of the world and many of the most
striking rings of this type are described and figured here. Allied to
these, and in some cases identical with them, are the rings given as
marks of official dignity and rank.
A most important class are the rings bestowed upon and worn by the
higher ecclesiastics. Papal rings, among which the most noted is
the “Fisherman’s Ring,” rings for cardinals and for bishops, and
also occasionally in former times, for abbots, were and are still
regarded with special reverence in the Roman and Greek churches. The
usage of wearing rings of this type dates far back in the history of
Christianity. Many examples of these rings are given, as also of
others bearing Christian emblems, and of those worn by nuns, and by
widows who had vowed never to re-wed.
Closely connected with these religious rings, are the betrothal
and wedding rings. Here it has seemed best to group together the
available data, since the line of demarcation between engagement and
wedding rings, though clearly enough marked to-day, is not easy to
draw in regard to earlier times. A very full selection of mottoes has
been added, some of which might still be used; the greater number,
however, belong to a past age, upon the sentiments of which they cast
interesting side lights.
Rings as charms and talismans form a class apart. Often the peculiar
form of the circlet was conceived to have a symbolic virtue, but more
frequently the talismanic quality depended upon some curious engraved
device, upon the stones set in the rings, or upon a mystic or religious
inscription. Rings of healing were talismans valued for their special
power to cure disease; the “cramp rings,” dated in legend back to the
time of Edward the Confessor, were notable in this series.
The rings of famous men and women will always be prized as mementos,
and in the various chapters of this book a large number of them will
be found, both rings of the mighty dead and those of distinguished
living persons; among these latter we are happy to be able to produce
an illustration of the inscription of President Wilson’s ring from an
impression of his seal courteously made by his own hand. It shows his
name engraved in Pitmanic shorthand.
Our American Indians have also made their contribution to the art of
ring-making, occasionally in the earlier centuries, and more especially
in more recent times. Notably the Navajos of New Mexico have exhibited
a considerable degree of skill in this direction. Much new information
on this subject will be found in the present work.
How rings are made by our jewellers of to-day, more especially by
the accurate and varied mechanical methods now employed for their
production, is concisely treated in a supplementary chapter. While
machine-made rings can scarcely be expected to equal those executed
by the hand of the true artist-goldsmith, those now produced are
nevertheless objects of beauty and adornment.
A ring is a symbol to which great interest is attached from the cradle
to the grave. Frequently, a natal stone, or a ring set with a natal
stone, is given to a child at its birth. When the child is baptized it
receives the talismanic gem of the guardian angel. At confirmation the
gem of the week is given. At graduation from school or college, a class
ring is bestowed. Finally, on the announcement of an engagement, a ring
set with any one of the choicer precious stones is selected for the
fiancée. Thus each important epoch in early life has its appropriate
memento, which will recall the memory of it in after years.
As very full indications as to the literature have been given in the
footnotes, it has not seemed necessary to append the numerous titles in
the form of a bibliography.
The author’s thanks are due to the following persons, who have
courteously imparted much valuable information:
Hon. Peter T. Barlow; Miss Ada M. Barr; W. Gedney Beatty; Theodoor
de Boog, Museum of the American Indian; Dr. Stewart Culin, Brooklyn
Institute; Robert W. De Forrest; Mrs. Alexander W. Drake; Dr. Gustavus
A. Eisen; Prof. Richard Gottheil, Columbia University; Dr. L. P.
Gratacap, Curator, Dept. of Mineralogy, American Museum of Natural
History; Right Rev. David H. Greer, Bishop of New York; Mrs. Isabel
Hapgood; Prof. A. V. Williams Jackson, Columbia University; William
H. Jones; Minor C. Keith; Dr. F. A. Lucas, Director, American Museum
of Natural History; B. Mazza; Edward T. Newell, President, American
Numismatic Society; Prof. John Dyneley Prince, Columbia University;
Mrs. Annie R. Schley; Dr. George C. Stone; J. Alden Weir, President,
National Academy of Design; Dr. Clark Wissler, Curator, Dept. of
Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History; Theodore M. Woodland;
Walter C. Wyman, and also the late William M. Chase; Dr. Charles S.
Braddock, Jr.; Prof. Friedrich Hirth, Columbia University; Sidney P.
Noe, Librarian, and Howland Wood, Curator, American Numismatic Society;
Rev. Dr. John P. Peters and Rev. Father William J. Stewart, all of New
York City.
Prof. Cyrus Adler, Dropsie College, Philadelphia; Dr. Hector Alliot,
South Western Museum, Los Angeles, Cal.; Dr. F. H. Barrow, Director,
Golden Gate Museum, Los Angeles, Cal.; Prof. Hiram Bingham, Yale
University; Frank S. Daggett, Director, Museum of History, Science
and Art, Los Angeles, Cal.; Dr. Joseph K. Dixon, Secretary, National
American Indian Memorial Asso., Philadelphia; Dr. Arthur Fairbanks,
Director, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.; Franciscan Fathers, St.
Michael’s Mission, Arizona; Prof. L. C. Glenn, Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, Tennessee; Dr. F. W. Hodge, Ethnologist-in-charge,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.; Prof. W. H. Holmes,
Head Curator, Dept. of Anthropology, United States National Museum,
Washington, D. C.; Dr. Walter Hough, Acting Head Curator, Dept.
of Anthropology, United States National Museum, Washington, D. C.;
Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Berthold
Laufer, Curator of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History,
Chicago; Waldo Lincoln, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester,
Mass.; Prof. George Grant McCurdy, Curator of Anthropology, Peabody
Museum of Natural History, Yale University; Dr. William C. Mills,
Curator and Librarian, Chicago Archæological and Historical Soc.;
Edward S. Morse, Director, Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass.; Dr. Warren
K. Moorehead, Curator, Dept. American Archæology, Phillips Academy,
Andover, Mass.; Ostby & Barton Co., Providence, R. I.; Admiral Robert
E. Peary, Washington, D. C.; Dr. R. Rathbun, United States National
Museum, Washington, D. C.; William Riker, Newark, N. J.; Oliver A.
Roberts, Librarian, Masonic Temple, Boston, Mass.; Prof. Austin T.
Rogers, Leland Stanford Jr. University, Stanford University, Cal.; Dr.
F. J. V. Skiff, Director, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago;
Prof. Friedrich Starr, University of Chicago; Rev. John Baer Stoudt,
Northampton, Pa.; Ex-President William H. Taft, New Haven, Conn.; J. P.
Tumulty, Secretary to President Wilson, Washington, D. C.; the late Dr.
William Hayes Ward, Assyriologist, South Berwick, Mass.
W. W. Blake, Mexico City; A. W. Feavearyear, London, England; R.
Friedländer & Sohn, Berlin; Prabha Karavongu, Siamese Legation,
Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Isabel Moore, Azores; M. Georges Pelissier,
Paris, France; Dr. William Flinders Petrie, Egyptologist, Hampstead,
England; Sir Charles Hercules Read, Curator, Dept. British and Mediæval
Antiquities and Ethnography, British Museum; Dr. Leonard Spencer,
Curator, Mineralogical Dept., British Museum (Natural History); C.
J. S. Thompson, Curator, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, London,
England; Sir Herbert Tree, London, England; Dr. T. Wada, Tokio, Japan;
Herr Leopold Weininger, Vienna, and also Dr. Albert Figdor, Vienna, and
U. S. Consul W. Bardel, St. Michael, Azores.
The illustrations of rings in the British Museum are mostly from one
or the other of the two exceedingly comprehensive catalogues of rings
published by this museum: “Finger Rings, Greek, Etruscan and Roman,”
by F. H. Marshall, and “Finger Rings, Early Christian, Byzantine,
Teutonic, Mediæval, and Later,” by O. M. Dalton. In each volume the
section devoted to a special description of each ring is preceded by a
most scholarly and enlightening introductory essay.
G. F. K.
[Illustration][3]
New York City,
November, 1916
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE ORIGIN, PURPOSES AND METHODS OF RING WEARING 1
1. The Origin of the Ring
2. Purposes of Ring Wearing
3. Methods of Wearing
II. FORMS OF RINGS AND MATERIALS OF WHICH THEY ARE MADE 67
The Materials of Rings
III. SIGNET RINGS 115
IV. SOME INTERESTING RINGS OF HISTORY 162
1. On the Continent
2. English Rings
V. BETROTHAL (ENGAGEMENT) RINGS, WEDDING (NUPTIAL) RINGS,
AND LOVE TOKENS 193
VI. THE RELIGIOUS USE OF RINGS 249
VII. MAGIC AND TALISMANIC RINGS 288
VIII. RINGS OF HEALING 336
IX. RING MAKING 355
ILLUSTRATIONS
COLOR PLATES
PAGE
The Maharani of Sikkim _Frontispiece_
Richly Enameled Rings in the Collection of Dr.
Albert Figdor 90
Shakespeare’s Signet Ring; Lord Byron’s Ring 152
DOUBLETONES
Evolution of the Ring 2
Serpent Ring; Greek and Roman Rings; Mycenæan Rings 3
Ancient Rings of American Indians 20
Navajo Silversmith at Work 21
Navajo Indian Girl Wearing Native Rings 24
Navajo Silver Rings 25
Navajo Silversmiths Working 28
Pueblo Indian Family, Showing Ring-wearing 29
Autograph Letter of Admiral Robert E. Peary 30
Roman Rings; Charioteer’s Ring 32
Isis and Serapis Ring; Decade Ring; Supposed Head of
Plotina on Ring; Key Rings 33
Memorial Rings and Poison Ring 44
Cameo of Louis XII; Nelson Ring; Napoleon Elba Ring 45
Hands on Egyptian Mummy Case; Hands from Portrait; Hand
Showing Hindu Jewels 50
Hands from Sepulchral Effigy; Illustrating Ring-wearing 51
Upper Part of Mummy Case of Artemidora, Showing Rings on
Hand 52
Sketch by Sir Charles Hercules Read of Finger of Bronze
Statue with Seal Ring 53
Portrait of a Lady by Anton Van Dyke 60
Portrait of Princess Hatzfeld by Antonio Pesaro 61
Anglo-Saxon Rings 64
Thumb Ring; Frankish and Lombardic Rings 65
The “Lorscher Ring”; Ring with Mouse; Venetian Ring;
Jeweller’s Ring-rod 72
Spur Ring; Modern Egyptian Rings; Pipe-stopper Ring 73
Oriental Rings 78
Rich East Indian Ring; Rings Made by Siamese Priest 79
Indian Toe Rings 80
Portrait of Rich Cinghalese Merchant with Many Rings 81
Ring of President Franklin Pierce; Old Rings Combined
as Pendant 84
Rings in Drake Collection 85
Rings from Collection of W. Gedney Beatty, Esq. 92
Types of Watch Rings 93
Portrait of a Man, Fifteenth Century, by Antonio del
Pollaiolo, Showing Pointed Diamond in Ring 98
Portrait of a Venetian Senator with Thumb Ring 99
Portrait of a Man by Lucas Cranach 118
Portrait of Katharina Aeder, by Hans Bock the Elder 119
Portrait of Cardinal of Brandenburg, by the “Master of
the Death of Mary” 124
Portrait of a Mother and Her Daughter, by Bartholomew Bruyn 125
Ancient Roman Seal Rings; Key Ring 132
Roman Rings of Bronze and of Bone; Roman Gold Ring with
Settings; Gold Ring from Wiston, Sussex; Roman Silver
Ring 133
Bronze Signet Rings; Ivory Signet Ring 136
Gold Signet, Sixteenth Century; Massive Gold Signet,
English, Fifteenth Century 137
Man’s Portrait, by Conrad Faber; Portrait of Benedikt
von Hertenstein, by Hans Holbein 148
Man and Woman at Casement. Florentine, Fifteenth Century 149
Rings From Collection of Imperial Kunstgewerbe Museum,
Vienna 156
Signet Ring of Charles I 157
Ring with Portrait, Given to Lafayette by Washington;
Impression of President Wilson’s Signet Ring; Seal of
Right Reverend David H. Greer, Bishop of New York 160
Portrait of a Lady, Cologne School, 1526, Wearing Pointed
Diamond 168
Man’s Portrait, by Hans Funk, 1523, with Seal Ring 169
“Campaign Medals” of Henri II and of John Casimir, Count
Palatine, with Pointed Diamonds 170
Portrait of Diane de Poitiers 171
Portrait of Henry VIII, by Hans Holbein 182
Portrait of Jane Seymour, by Holbein 183
Portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, French School 184
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth, by Lucas de Heere 185
Gold Ring, Cameo Portrait of Queen Elizabeth; Venetian
Ring with Pearls; Multiple Silver Rings 186
Puzzle Rings 187
Portrait of a Lady, by Pantoja de la Cruz 194
Portrait of Empress Mary, Daughter of Charles V, by Juan
Pantoja de la Cruz 195
Inlaid Antique Ring; Locket Ring; Antique Syrian Ring;
Roman Ring with Pointed Diamond; Silver Ring on Bone
of Finger, from Saxon Sepulchre 196
Syrian Wedding Rings of Agate and Chalcedony 197
Betrothal of the Virgin, by Juan Rodriguez Juarez (Xuarez) 202
Hands from the Preceding Picture 203
Jewish Betrothal Rings, Musèe de Cluny 212
Jewish Rings from British Museum 213
Portrait of Anne of Cleves, by Hans Holbein, Showing
Thumb Ring 216
Portrait of Judith, by Lucas Cranach, Rings Worn Under
Gloves 217
Ring with Diamond for Writing on Glass; Gallo-Roman
Wedding Ring; Signet and Wedding Ring of Mary, Queen
of Scots 218
Betrothal Rings; Gimmal Wedding Ring 219
Gimmal Ring; Betrothal Ring; Puzzle Ring 220
Wedding Rings with Posies 221
Portrait of Clara Eugenia, Daughter of Philip II of
Spain, by Gonzales 222
Portrait of Catarina Michela, Another of Philip’s
Daughters, by Coello Sanchez 223
Engagement and Wedding Rings 230
Wedding Rings 231
Marriage Medals by Oscar Roty 232
Puzzle Ring; Gold Betrothal Ring; Ornamental Love Ring 233
Portrait of Young Woman, Dutch School 240
Portrait of a Man, by the “Master of the Death of Mary” 241
Rings, Italian, French, Tyrolese, in the Boston Museum
of Fine Arts 246
Jacques Guay, Gem Engraver of Louis XV, at Work in the
Louvre 247
Ring of Pius II, Æneas Sylvius 262
The “Fisherman’s Ring”; Hand of Cranach’s “Judith,”
with Gloves Slit for Rings 263
Portrait of Clement IX, by Carlo Maratta 268
Portrait of Julius II, by Rafael 269
Christian Ring of Glass; Venetian Relic Ring; Poison
Ring; Ring of Bishop Ahlstan 270
Memorial Rings 271
Bishops’ Rings; Papal Ring; Rosary Rings 272
Bishops’ Rings 273
Abbess Praying, French School 280
Lady’s Portrait, by Coninxbo 281
Rings with Greek Mottoes; Ring of Bronze Gilt 300
Oriental Rings 301
The “Hermit Stone,” from Lapidario of Alfonso X 304
The “Offspring Stone,” from Lapidario of Alfonso X 305
Chinese Jeweller’s Shop in San Francisco; Modern
Chinese Rings 320
Specimens of Curious Ring Collection in American Museum
of Natural History, New York; Rings from Philippine
Islands 321
Zodiacal Rings 328
Magic Rings 329
Masonic Rings 332
Rings of Orders and Societies 333
Edward the Confessor’s Ring; Healing Ring 342
Curious Woodcuts Regarding Rings, from the Ortus
(Hortus) Sanitatis of Johannis de Cuba 343
Astrolabe Ring; Watch-Ring by Kossek in Prague 352
Eighteenth Century Watch Ring; Modern Watch Ring 353
Production of Rings with Precious Stones by Means of
Machinery 356
Successive Stages in the Formation of a Machine-made Ring 357
The “Allen Ring Gauge” for Measuring Rings 358
“Ring, Finger and Millimeter Locking Gauge”; “Display
Rings” 359
RINGS
I
THE ORIGIN, PURPOSES AND METHODS OF RING WEARING
THE ORIGIN OF THE RING
The origin of the ring is somewhat obscure, although there is good
reason to believe that it is a modification of the cylindrical seal
which was first worn attached to the neck or to the arm and was
eventually reduced in size so that it could be worn on the finger.
Signet rings were used in Egypt from a very remote period, and we read
in Gen. xl, 42, that the Pharaoh of Joseph’s time bestowed a ring upon
the patriarch as a mark of authority. From Egypt the custom of wearing
rings was transmitted to the Greek world, and also to the Etruscans,
from whom the usage was derived by the Romans. The Greek rings were
made of various materials, such as gold, silver, iron, ivory, and amber.
In his Natural History, Pliny relates the Greek fable of the origin
of the ring. For his impious daring in stealing fire from heaven for
mortal man, Prometheus had been doomed by Jupiter to be chained for
30,000 years to a rock in the Caucasus, while a vulture fed upon his
liver. Before long, however, Jupiter relented and liberated Prometheus;
nevertheless, in order to avoid a violation of the original judgment,
it was ordained that the Titan should wear a link of his chain on one
of his fingers as a ring, and in this ring was set a fragment of the
rock to which he had been chained, so that he might be still regarded
as bound to the Caucasian rock.
Another origin ascribed to the ring is the knot. A knotted cord or a
piece of wire twisted into a knot was a favorite charm in primitive
times. Frequently this was used to cast a spell over a person, so as
to deprive him of the use of one of his limbs or one of his faculties;
at other times, the power of the charm was directed against the
evil spirit which was supposed to cause disease or lameness, and
in this case the charm had curative power. It has been conjectured
that the magic virtues attributed to rings originated in this way,
the ring being regarded as a simplified form of a knot; indeed, not
infrequently rings were and are made in the form of knots.[4] This
symbol undoubtedly signified the binding or attaching of the spell to
its object, and the same idea is present in the true-lovers’ knot.
[Illustration: EVOLUTION OF THE FINGER RING
1, Egyptian seal ring. 2, Greek snake ring, found at Kertch
in the Crimea. 3, antique Roman ring (Berlin Antiquarium). 4,
Romano-Etruscan ring. 5, Roman key ring. 6, Gothic ring with stone
set on raised bezel. 7, Gothic ring with cabochon-cut stone. 8,
Renaissance ring with enamel decoration. 9, Hebrew wedding ring.
10, Renaissance ring. 11, Renaissance ring. 12, coat of arms of
the Medici, three interlinked stones, each set with a natural
pointed diamond crystal.]
[Illustration:
Large serpentine ring with many coils. Græco-Roman, Fourth Century
B.C. to Second Century A.D.
British Museum]
[Illustration:
Græco-Roman silver ring, set with an oval engraved sardonyx.
Second Century A.D.
British Museum]
[Illustration: Greek gold ring with eye-shaped bezel. From
Tarsus; Third Century A.D.
British Museum]
[Illustration:
Hellenistic bronze ring. Bezel set with a convex pale green paste.
Remains of gilding on ring
British Museum]
[Illustration:
Greek silver ring. Engraved design beneath a sunk border; draped
figure of a girl holding out a dove
British Museum]
[Illustration: Roman ring of opaque dark glass. Fourth Century
A.D.
British Museum]
[Illustration:
Mycenæan gold rings. 1, from Ialysos, Rhodes; given to the British
Museum in 1870 by John Ruskin; 2, from excavation at Enkomi, 1896
British Museum]
Many rings of the Bronze Age were found in the course of excavations
conducted in 1901 by M. Henri de Morgan in the valley of Agha Evlar,
stretching back from Kerghan on the Caspian Sea, in the region known as
the “Persian Talyche.” Here several sepulchral dolmens were discovered
which yielded a considerable number of ornamental objects of metal
and stone, as well as beads of vitreous paste. There was no trace of
inscriptions to aid in dating these “Scythian” finds, but they are
considered to belong to the second millennium before Christ. The bronze
rings are of several different types, some of them showing from three
to five spirals; in other cases the ends are overlapping, or else
brought together as closely as possible.[5]
Although it would scarcely be safe to assume that finger-rings were
never worn by the ancient Assyrians, still the almost total absence of
representations of them, even on female figures, renders it safe to
say that this must have been only very rarely the case. Possibly the
persistence in Assyria and Babylonia of the cylindrical form of seal
may account for this, in part at least, for the signet ring in many
places was evolved from the cylinder-seal. Moreover, the absence of
small intaglios in the period earlier than 500 B.C. would have
deprived a ring of its almost essential setting. The plates in Layard’s
great work on Assyrian remains, as well as those published by Flandrin
and Coste, also offer strong negative evidence, although Dr. William
Hayes Ward states that he would have expected finger-rings might have
come from Egypt by the way of Syria. At a later period, under Greek
influence, rings were not uncommon.[6] In the immense cemeteries at
Warka and elsewhere numerous iron rings have been found, many of them
toe-rings, as well as some made of shell, but the date of these burials
is not easily determined, and they are probably, in most instances, not
of much earlier date than the eighth or even the sixth century before
Christ.
A proof that genuine antiques can still be picked up in our day in
the East is given by Doctor Ward, who said that he bought in Bagdad
a lovely gold ring set with a cameo on which was inscribed in Greek
characters “Protarchus made it.” When, on visiting London, he told
this to Doctor Murray, of the British Museum, the latter gave full
expression to his scepticism, saying, “There are plenty of those signed
things.” But when the gem itself was shown him, he exclaimed, “This is
jolly genuine,” and he had it photographed for his book.[7]
A very interesting find was made in 1893, during the excavations
conducted under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania at
Nippur. In the northwestern part of the mound, as many as 730 inscribed
tablets were unearthed, which had been carefully stored in a chamber
measuring eighteen by nine feet. These tablets, when deciphered,
proved that the chamber was the record room of the sons of a certain
Murashu, Bêlhâtin and Bêl-nadin-shumu, whose activity seems to have
been analogous to that of our counsellors-at-law. Many of the tablets
bear records concerning the members of the family personally, but in
other cases their services appear to have been claimed in various
legal difficulties. One of the most curious of these ancient documents
is a contract dated the eighth of the month of Elul, in the year 429
B.C. (thirty-fifth year of Artaxerxes I of Persia), in which
Bêl-ah-iddina, Bêlshumu, and Hâtin give the following guarantee to
Bêl-nadin-shumu, son of Murashu:
As concerns the gold ring set with an emerald, we guarantee that
in twenty years the emerald will not fall out of the gold ring.
If the emerald should fall out of the gold ring before the end of
twenty years, Bêl-ah-iddina, Bêlshumu, and Hâtin shall pay unto
Bêl-nadin-shumu an indemnity of ten mana of silver.
The record bears the names of seven witnesses and that of the scribe,
and is signed with the thumb-nail marks of those who guaranteed the
jewel, “instead of their seals.”[8]
It seems that we have here the names of the members of a firm of
jewellers doing business in Nippur, in the fifth century before Christ,
and evidently they were quite confident that the work they sold was
well and solidly done, for the indemnity represented a sum equivalent
to about $400 in our money. This must have been the estimated value of
the emerald. As the stone was probably not very large, this particular
gem must have been highly valued at that time, a fact due, in all
likelihood, to the special talismanic virtues attributed to it.
Several gold rings of Egyptian workmanship, excavated in tombs at
Enkomi, Cyprus, date back to the time of the Middle Empire in Egypt.
One in pale gold, now in the British Museum, has a flat oval bezel,
inscribed “Maāt, the golden one of the two lands.” This belongs to the
period from the XIX to the XXI Dynasty (or approximately from 1350 to
1000 B.C.). A ring found on the surface of the ground is of
electrum and very massive, and is engraved with a draped figure seated
on a throne, to whom approaches another figure clothed with a lion’s
skin and wearing on the head a disk and horns; a lion walking is in the
exergue, and the sun’s disk is above the two figures. This is believed
to belong to the late XVIII Dynasty, toward 1400 B.C. A thin,
rounded hoop of pale gold, the ends of which are twisted round each
other, and a rounded hoop of yellow gold engraved with four uræi, are
two other examples in the British Museum of the rings from Enkomi. A
massive silver ring from the same place has a large oval bezel with
the following names and titles inscribed in Egyptian hieroglyphics:
Rā-Heru-Khuti, Rā]-Kheperu Nefer, Meri-Rā, Ptah-neb-nut-maāt.[9] The
Cypriot gold ornaments which these rings help to date are considered
to be essentially contemporary with those from the tombs in the lower
town of Mycenæ, the period being approximately 1300–1100 B.C.,
possibly some years earlier or later.
A beautifully worked, perforated gold ring, set with a scarab of
carnelian, was found in Cyprus and is now in the Konstantinidis
Collection at Nicosia. The workmanship as well as the style of
the setting indicates that it was produced in the sixth century
B.C. Engraved on the carnelian is a fabulous monster, somewhat
resembling a chimæra, half lion, half boar.[10] Another ring of the
same period from Marion-Arsinoë, Cyprus, has a silver hoop, and is set
with a flat scaraboid, engraved with a female figure kneeling.
One of the largest Mycenæan rings shows a goddess seated near a tree,
and worshippers approaching to do her homage. Others offer various
devices: an altar with worshippers; a griffin and a seated divinity;
a pair of sphinxes; griffins, bulls’ heads, etc., in heraldic
ordering.[11] Here we have early Greek art transforming and adapting
Oriental forms of metal engraving, to be succeeded, more than five
centuries later, by the great gem-engravings of the palmy days of the
art of Ionia and Greece.
Among the Cyprian rings of the Mycenæan period, about 1000
B.C., in the British Museum, is a double gold ring which had
been evidently inlaid with some vitreous substance, all but faint
traces of which have now disappeared. This was found in a site near
Famagusta, Cyprus, that has been satisfactorily identified with the
spot where the Greeks under Teucer are said to have established a
settlement on their return from the siege of Troy. Other gold rings
discovered here at the same time, in 1896, have plain hoops, with a
small cylindrical ornament strung on the hoop, to serve in place of
a bezel with setting. Still another of these rings has, on one side,
an extension squared off at the corners, making a long and narrow
flat surface on the outside of the hoop; along its edge runs a beaded
ornamentation.[12]
The oldest Greek ring bearing an inscription is one believed to belong
to the late Mycenæan period. The gold hoop has engraved upon it the
Cypriot syllables Le-na-ko, possibly meaning the name Lenagoras. It
was found with other ornaments in a grave near Lanarka, Cyprus.[13]
The similarity of the name Lanarka with the phonetic value of the
inscribed signs might perhaps suggest that a place name rather than a
person’s name is signified. That in ancient times several cities had
their special signets is proved by a Greek inscription as to the cities
of Smyrna, Magnesia, and Sipylum.[14]
Pliny already remarked the fact that nowhere in the Homeric poems is
any mention made of rings or of seals. This is the more singular that
we have so much positive evidence in Cretan and Mycenæan remains that
rings were known to a part of the Greek world for a long time prior
to the composition of the Iliad and Odyssey. Probably due allowance
must be made for the individual preference of the poet, or school
of poets, to whom we owe these masterpieces of ancient literature.
In our own day, the present writer in his researches has often been
disappointed to find nothing concerning precious stones or jewels in
a given work treating of a subject that would invite their mention,
the obvious reason being that the author cared little or nothing for
such things, and hence passed over, unnoticed, all data regarding
them. Nevertheless, the metal-worker’s art evidently appealed strongly
to the author (or authors) of the Homeric epics, as is shown in many
places, notably in the long description of the representations on the
elaborately wrought shield made by Vulcan for Achilles (Il., xviii,
478–608).
Certainly the traditions of Homeric times, recorded by later Greek
writers, tell of several rings worn by Homeric personages. A ring of
Ulysses, engraved with a dolphin by order of the wily hero, in memory
of the rescue of his son Telemachus by one of the creatures of the
deep, is mentioned by Plutarch (“De solertia anim.”). Moreover, Helen
of Troy is stated to have worn on one of her fingers a ring bearing the
figure of an “enormous fish,” and, finally, the great Greek painter
Polygnotus, a contemporary of Pericles (495–429 B.C.), in a
painting showing the descent of Ulysses into Hades, represented the
youthful Phocus as wearing a ring, set with an engraved gem, on one of
the fingers of his left hand.[15] This painting was highly reputed in
ancient times, and had been dedicated to Apollo in the shrine at Delphi
by the Cnidians.
The significance of the ring in the fourth century before Christ, as
an ensign of office in Athens, is brought out by a passage in the
“Knights” of the comic poet Aristophanes, where the people, as an
expression of their discontent with the administration of Kleon, demand
that he surrender the ring with which he has been invested, as a proof
that he is no longer entrusted with the office of treasurer.[16]
A clever use of a ring is reported to have been made by Ismenias of
Thebes, when he was sent by the Bœotians as an envoy to the Persian
King. Before he was brought into the royal presence he was instructed
by the master of ceremonies that he must prostrate himself before the
sovereign. This act was strongly repugnant to his Greek consciousness,
both as a debasement of his individual dignity, and as an act of
divine homage offered to a mortal. To escape from the dilemma, the
envoy, as he approached the throne, took off his ring and succeeded
in dropping it without attracting too much attention; whereupon he
stooped and picked it up. The Greek onlookers understood the meaning
of his action, while the Persians believed that he had satisfactorily
conformed to the court ceremonial. His little ruse was rewarded by a
favorable reception of his requests by the Persian King, who had long
been offended by the obstinate refusal of the Greeks to render him the
homage he regarded as his due.[17]
The iron ring of the Romans, accounted for in popular fancy by the
tale of the rock and link ring of Prometheus, probably came to the
Romans from the Etruscans, who appear to have owed the fashion to the
Greeks, and Pliny notes in his “Naturalis Historia,” written about 75
A.D., that even then the Lacedæmonians, with true Spartan
sobriety, still wore iron rings.[18] Roman tradition carried back the
introduction of such rings to the age of Numa Pompilius, about 700
B.C., and there is evidence that, at a later time at least,
they were regarded as symbols of victory when worn on the hand of
a successful general, a late instance being the wearing of an iron
ring by Marius at his triumph for the victory over Jugurtha in 107
B.C.[19]
The progressive changes in the Roman regulations and customs governing
the wearing of rings and the material of which they should be made have
been stated in a concise and convenient form by M. Deloche, and his
conclusions are of considerable value, based as they are upon a very
careful study of the classic sources and their best interpreters in the
past.[20]
The iron ring, the only one originally, was at first regarded as a
mark of individual honor, awarded by the sovereign or in his name.
From the earliest times of the Roman Republic, a senator sent on an
embassy received a gold ring, all other senators being restricted to
iron ones. Soon, however, senators of noble birth, and, later on, all
senators without distinction, enjoyed the right of wearing gold rings.
In the third century B.C. this privilege was then extended to
the knights, and in the last years of the Republic, as well as under
the emperors, many other classes of citizens were made partakers of the
privilege, so that before long even some freedmen and certain of those
pursuing the least reputable vocations were permitted the enjoyment of
a distinction once so jealously guarded.
Toward the latter part of the third century A.D. all Roman
soldiers could lawfully wear gold rings, although in the late
Republican and earlier Imperial periods this right was accorded only to
the military tribunes. Thus, finally, all class distinctions in this
respect were done away with. Every freeborn man could wear a gold ring,
freedmen, with a few exceptions, were confined to silver rings, and the
iron ring became the badge of slavery.
After the battle of Cannæ (August 2, 216 B.C.), in which the
Romans were totally defeated by Hannibal, the Carthaginian leader
ordered that the gold rings should be taken from the hands of the dead
Romans and heaped up in the vestibule of his quarters. Enough were
collected to fill a bushel basket (some authorities say three bushel
baskets), and they were sent to Carthage, not as valuable spoils of
war, but as proof of the great slaughter among the Roman patricians and
knights, for at this time none beneath the rank of knights, and only
those of highest standing among them, those provided with steeds by
the State (_equo publico_), had been given the right to wear gold
rings.[21]
On days of national mourning the gold rings were laid aside as a mark
of sorrow and respect, and iron rings were substituted. This was
the case after the defeat at Cannæ in 216 B.C. and on the
funeral day of Augustus Cæsar in 15 A.D. This usage is noted
in one of the poet Juvenal’s satires.[22] Occasionally, as a mark of
disapprobation, senators would remove their gold rings at a public
sitting, as, for instance, when, in 305 B.C., the appointment
as edile of Cneius Flavius, son of the freedman Annius, was announced
in the Senate.
In Rome supplicants took off their rings as a mark of humility, or
a sign of sadness. When the censors C. Claudius Pulcher and Titus
Sempronius Gracchus were cited by the tribune Rutilius as guilty of a
crime against the State, Claudius was condemned by eight of the twelve
centuries of Knights. At this, many of the principal personages of the
Senate, taking off their gold rings in the presence of the assembled
citizens, put on mourning garments, and raised supplications in favor
of the accused persons.[23]
Another instance of this usage with suppliants is shown in a recital of
Valerius Maximus, wherein he relates that when, about 55 B.C.,
Aulus Gabinius was violently accused by the tribune Memmius, and there
seemed to be little hope that he would escape punishment, his son
Sisenna cast himself as a suppliant at the feet of Memmius, tearing off
his ring at the same time. This mark of humiliation finally induced
Memmius and his fellow-tribune Lælius to withdraw the accusation, and
set Gabinius at liberty.[24]
The wearing of a gold ring, because it was a sign of patrician and
later of free birth, had such a high value in the eyes of the Romans
that some freedmen used the subterfuge of wearing a gold ring with a
dark coating, so that it would appear to be of iron. Thus, although
they neither had the gratification nor incurred the perils of wearing
a symbol confined to the freeborn, they had the intimate personal
satisfaction of knowing that it was really on the hand.[25]
From the rather scant evidence that has come down to us, it appears
that Roman women were not subjected to as strict regulations in the
wearing of rings of precious metal as were the men. The wives of simple
plebeians who were in good circumstances seem as generally and freely
to have worn them as the wives and daughters of senators or knights, or
other patrician women. Pliny writes of the women wearing gold on every
finger.[26]
In Rome, as early as the first century, at a time when the right of
wearing gold rings was, as has been shown, very strictly limited,
it occasionally happened that a famous actor was accorded this
privilege by the special favor of some influential admirer of his
art. Sulla granted this right to Roscius, and some years later, in
43 B.C., the Roman quæstor in Spain bestowed a gold ring
upon Herennius Gallus in the ancient city of Gades, the modern
Cadiz. This gave him the right to occupy a seat in one of the first
fourteen rows at the theatre, the part reserved for the knights. This
special privilege was accorded to the actor by the Lex Roscia of 67
B.C., conferring the ring upon Roscius.[27]
Although the Christian women of the early Christian centuries were
taught to avoid all superfluous adornments, the wearing of a gold
ring was permitted to them. This was not, however, to be considered
as an ornament, but was simply for use in sealing up the household
goods entrusted to a wife’s care. Nevertheless, while noting this use,
Clemens Alexandrinus (ca. 150–ca. 217 A.D.) adds that, if
both servants and masters were properly instructed in their respective
duties and obligations, there would be no need for such precautions.[28]
The dignity conferred by the right to wear a gold ring is even noticed
in the Epistle of James, where we read (ii, 2–4):
For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in
goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment,
and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say
unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor,
Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool; are ye not then
partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
While this apostle here, as elsewhere in his epistle, warmly espouses
the cause of the poor, the prominence he gives to the gold ring as
a mark of the rich man, and a passport to the place of honor in the
congregation, is a full acknowledgment of the impression it created
upon strangers, just as the ribbon of an order is taken as a proof
of dignity or station in monarchial countries to-day, and even to a
certain extent in republican France.
The custom of bestowing birthday rings (_anuli natalitii_) was
frequently observed in imperial Rome, and a rich and influential
personage, with many friends and clients, would receive a large number
of these rings on the anniversary day of his birth. As a rule, a
setting of white sardonyx seems to have been most favored, to judge
from a line in the first of the Satires of the Latin poet Persius
(34–62 A.D.).
The famous decree of Justinian, promulgated in 539 (Novella 78 of the
Digest), conferring upon freedmen the right of wearing gold rings, runs
as follows:[29]
If a master, on freeing his slave, has declared him to be a Roman
citizen (and he is not allowed to do otherwise), let it be known
that, according to the present law, he who shall have received his
liberty shall have the right to gold rings and to regeneration,
and shall not need to solicit the right of the prince, or to take
any other steps to secure it. It will be his as a consequence of
his liberation, in virtue of the present law, which goes into
effect from this day.
This decree shows that, as is proved by other texts, freedmen were
sometimes accorded the privilege of wearing gold rings by special
permission of the ruler or State, but all who could not obtain such
special permission were punishable if they ventured to wear a gold
ring, just as in countries where State orders are recognized and
protected the wearing of such an order or of its ribbon by unauthorized
persons is punishable in some way. The “right of regeneration” is more
peculiar, as this refers to a legal fiction, by which it was assumed
that some one of the ancestors of the freedman had been freeborn;
hence, the quality of free-birth was only revived, not created, in the
case of the descendant. This is, after all, not so unreasonable as
it may seem to be, for the slaves, being generally prisoners of war,
or else the descendants of citizens who had in some way lost their
citizenship, could truly claim, in a majority of instances, that they
came of freeborn stock.
The image of Mars on a ring-stone was greatly favored by Roman
soldiers. A good example of this style of ring is to be seen at the
National Hungarian Museum in Budapest. The gem, a carnelian, is
engraved with a figure of the god, with helmet and spear; his left hand
rests on a shield bearing the Medusa’s head. The hoop is of silver.
This ring was found in Bosnia and was donated to the museum in 1820.[30]
An old Roman inscription mentions a guild of ring-makers (_conlegium
anularium_),[31] and the denomination anularius even appears as a
proper name of the engraver of a signet ring.[32] Near the Forum was a
flight of steps designated _scalæ anulariæ_,[33] indicating either
that ring engravers or vendors were to be found there, or that they had
their shops or workshops in the neighborhood.
Treating of the dictatorial conduct of the Procurator Verres, Cicero,
in his violent, we might almost say virulent arraignment of him, were
it not so well deserved, says that when Verres wished to have a ring
made for himself he ordered that a goldsmith should be summoned to the
Forum, publicly weighed out the gold for him, and commanded the man to
set his bench down in the Forum and to make the ring in the presence of
all.[34]
Tacitus states in his Germania that the most valiant of the Cattæ,
wore “like a fetter” an iron ring, which was a mark of infamy among
the Germans. Only when a warrior had killed an enemy had he the right
to divest himself of this ring. Whether this was a tribal usage, or
only the sign of an obligation voluntarily assumed, must be left to
conjecture. It is supposed to evidence that the slaves of the Germans
wore iron rings, and that thus such rings were looked upon as badges of
slavery.[35]
Finger-rings are exceedingly rare among the remains of the prehistoric
American peoples, although a few have been found in the Pueblo ruins
of Arizona and New Mexico. These are usually cut out of shell. Some
of them are skilfully cut from Pectunculus shells, and others from
“cone-shells” (_Conus_). Of the former kind a number were
unearthed at Chaves Pass, Arizona.[36] Many of the rings were incised
with an ornamental design; one of the most beautiful of these was
decorated with red figures representing clouds and lightning. This
ring, large enough to fit an adult’s finger, was found, together with
bones of a human hand, in one of the pre-Columbian graves, at Casa
Grande, Arizona. The remains here also yielded a ring made out of a
cone-shell, with incised decoration. The exceptionally fine specimen
noted above almost certainly had a religious or talismanic character,
and it may have been thought to protect the wearer from storms and
thunderbolts.
The skill with which the shells were utilized for rings as well as
for other objects of adornment must have been the result of many
generations of experiment and training, springing from that inherent
artistic sense so often manifest in the Indians of the pueblos in
contrast to the Indians of the plains. Often the circular form was
already present in the shell, and this was utilized by dividing a part
of the cone into sections, thus giving rings of varying diameter.
The material was then smoothed and polished, and either left plain
or decorated with an incised pattern, into the outlines of which
appropriate coloring matter was introduced. In other cases, when the
shell material did not offer a natural circlet, a disk was cut out, and
a large perforation produced the rough circlet, to be worked up later
into a finished ring.