![]() Wemmick as having suffered many bereavements for he wore at least four mourning rings. In the Charles Dickens book Great Expectations it describes Mr. The Victorian period was very religious and superstitious, and words like MIZPAH, with the Biblical meaning - the Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent from each other, or the Greek word AEI meaning ALWAYS were very popular inscription on antique rings.Īntique Memorial Rings - Death in the Victorian period involved respecting the conventions of mourning, which very often involved the wearing of antique memorial rings, these were mainly large stark and simple often with black or dark blue enamel (picture 4), and sometimes with an ashes urn, made up from 'old cut' diamonds set in the middle of this type of antique ring. Again with the Cherub symbolizing love, and with the lion being the king of the beasts, and standing not just for strength and power, but the ultimate power, the symbolism on these antique rings stood for the power of love, and how love can conquer all.įor those facing separation, Inscription rings became very popular, and have become very collectable. On the same theme we have had in our collection carvings of Cherub's riding lions. This antique ring with the cherub standing for love, and the satyr for evil, was meant to symbolizes how love conquers evil. In stock at Beverley R at the moment (picture 3), we have a Victorian Carnelian intaglio ring with a cherub on the back of and attacking a satyr. Later on at the end of the Victorian period intaglio rings, started to be carved with scenes from mythology, with Greek or Roman God's heads, or symbolic rings. This is a time when official, documents before they were sent, had a wax seal to close them, and then the intaglio ring was pushed down into the wax while it was still hot, leaving the imprint of the crest for identification purposes. I have in stock an intaglio engagement ring, which is set on a swivel, (pictures 1&2), with the husband's family crest carved on one side, with his wife's family crest carved on the other. Many times engagements or unions were symbolized by the wearing of intaglio, engagement or friendship rings, inscribed with date and initials, with an ivy leaf carved in the middle of the ring, as this was symbol of fidelity. But rings were not just by lovers, they were also exchanged by friends, and back in the Victorian period both engagement rings and friendship rings were very often symbolic, or contained inscriptions. In my last Blog we looked at mainly Victorian Engagement rings.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |