Tart Mold Ring with sapphire cabochon
, Western Europe, 1200-1300
Tart Mold Ring with sapphire cabochon
Description
Elegant sapphire ring from the high Middle Ages
Gold ring with plain hoop in round section, widening slightly towards the ends with decorative triangular panels to support the high bezel. The widening hexagonal base is surmounted by a hexagonal, tapering collet setting with sapphire cabochon. The ring shows signs of wear through age, and it is in good wearable condition.
Literature:
In Medieval Europe rings with single gemstones set in gold or silver, were fashionable and worn by the wealthy. Sapphires were highly prized gems and very rare on the market. They were imported from Ceylon (today Sri Lanka), Thailand, and Burma. Due to their rarity, they were also often extracted from Roman or Byzantine jewelry.
Sapphires with their sky-blue color were associated with divine powers, and worn by nobility, royalty, and high-ranking Church dignitaries. Religious beliefs surrounding the power of gemstones were often interlinked with superstitions. Sapphires were thought to shield the wearer from harm and poison, as well as promoting chastity and being beneficial for ailments of the eyes.
During the medieval period, styles in jewelry were transnational and variants of this design were made in various countries in Western Europe, ranging from Denmark, England, France to Germany. Similar rings with hexagonal shaped bezels can be found in the British Museum, London (Dalton, O.M., Frank Bequest Catalogue of the finger rings, early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Mediaeval and later bequeathed by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, London: Longmans & Co, 1912, no. 1770); Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Hindman (ed.), Cycles of Life, 2014, p. 153 and inv. no. 639-1871); Nationalmuseet, Copenhagen (Lindahl, Fritze, Symboler I Guld Og Sølv : Nationalmuseets Fingerringe 1000-1700-åRene. Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab, 2003, nos. 90-91); Alice and Louis Koch Collection in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich (Chadour, Anna Beatriz, Rings: the Alice and Louis Koch Collection, Leeds: Maney, 1994, nos. 560 and 566 with further references); Schmuckmuseum,Pforzheim (Battke, Heinz, Geschichte des Ringes in Beschreibung und Bildern. Dargestellt durch die Sammlung Battke, Baden-Baden: W. Klein, 1953, Pl. XII, no. 63)