Gold ring with a slender hoop, rounded on both interior and exterior surfaces, widening slightly toward the ends, which incline inward and terminate in small rectangular inserts. The inserts support an oval bezel with a conical underside and tapered top, set with a garnet cabochon. The ring shows some signs of age through wear and is still in good, wearable condition.  

Provenance:

Portable Antiquities Scheme ID:LIN- 4C0509. The ring was found in the County of Lincolnshire.

Literature:

In medieval Europe, rings set with gemstones were highly popular; the stones were typically en cabochon—left in their natural form and simply polished. Such gems carried special meaning for the wearer, whether symbolizing authority, expressing love, or serving magical or amuletic purposes. Garnets, like the one in this ring, were sourced primarily from Eastern Europe, while other stones were imported from distant regions of the East (Marian Campbell, Medieval Jewellery in Europe 1100–1500, pp. 28–29). 

This ring type, today known as a “pie-dish” or “tart mold” ring due to the characteristic shape of its bezel, dates from the twelfth to fourteenth century. The fashion for such rings was widespread, with some styles circulated internationally across England, France, Denmark, and Germany (Chadour 1994, vol. 1, no. 560, with further parallels). An early documented example was found in the tomb of Bishop Ranulf Flambard of Durham, who died in 1128 (Hindman 2007, no. 17), while another was recovered in the Bremen Cathedral. Such finds suggest that the present ring may have belonged to a member of the high clergy. Garnets were particularly favored in this period: traditionally associated with love, their vivid red color was often a substitute for rubies.

For comparable pie-dish rings in museum collections, see the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Oman 1930, no. 257); the British Museum (Dalton 1912, nos. 1772–1773; Oman 1974, pl. 14 A–B); the Museum of London (Egan & Pritchard 2002, pp. 325–27, fig. 1610); the Nationalmuseum Copenhagen (Lindahl 2003, nos. 96–97); the Hanns-Ulrich Haedeke Collection (Haedeke 2000, no. 135); and the Hashimoto Collection, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (Scarisbrick 2004, nos. 112–113). See also Scarisbrick 1993, pp. 24–25.

R-1125