Rings

A GARNET LOVE TOKEN SET IN BAROQUE SYMBOLISM.

Gold ring with a D-section hoop decorated below with an egg-and-dart frieze in relief and above an ‘S’ scrollwork. The slightly widened shoulders are embellished with cartouches terminating in tapering globules. The hoop supports a rectangular bezel with rounded and tapered sides, engraved and enameled with symmetrical ivy foliage emerging from an oval cartouche containing floral motif. Traces of black, white, and red enamel remain. An indented border surrounds the setting, which contains an almost oval garnet cabochon. The ring shows signs of wear through age, particularly losses to the enamel in places, and remains in good wearable condition.

Provenance:

United Kingdom, The Jonest Collection, published in: Diana Scarisbrick and Sonja Butler, Marvels in Miniature, The Jonest Collection of Rings, London 2024, p. 127, no. 88.

Literature:

Classic in design, this ring is replete with symbolism, suggesting it was conceived as a love token, perhaps even as a wedding gift. Deriving from the Latin granatum for the pomegranate with its rich red seeds, garnets were closely associated with love and devotion, in part because the pomegranate was an attribute of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.  So too its ivy foliage carried symbolic meaning since ivy conveyed love, affection, and loyalty, owing to its feature of entwining tree trunks (L Impelluso, Nature and its Symbols, Los Angeles, 2004, pp. 50–54). Ivy, together with the grapevine, was also an attribute of Bachus, the Roman god of wine and fertility, adding a further level of erotic connotation to the ring.  It is tempting to speculate that this particular garnet, being slightly oval rather than precisely shaped to fit the setting, was selected for personal reasons, perhaps as an heirloom intended for the special occasion.

Most likely made in France, the ring reflects the style of the French “Baroque” in the seventeenth century, characterized by exuberant ornament in the decorative arts. The period witnessed a growing fascination with flowers and plants, due to increased botanical studies, giving rise to a rich floral vocabulary across the visual arts and the development of a symbolic “language of flowers.” The shape and style of the present ring recall designs by Gilles Légaré, goldsmith to King Louis XIV (1643–1715); see Scarisbrick, 1993, pp. 92–93. For the continuation of the type, compare designs by Jean Bourguet, Paris, published in 1723 (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inv. no. E.2056-1908).

R-1158