Please complete the form to email this item.

Ring

Ring

  • Place of origin:

    France (made)

  • Date:

    1830-60 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Enamelled gold

  • Credit Line:

    Given by Dame Joan Evans

  • Museum number:

    M.172-1962

  • Gallery location:

    Jewellery, room 91, case 23, shelf C, box 2

  • Download image

Enamelled with roses and daisies, this ring was a charming lover's gift. The little hinged panels set around the hoop open to reveal the French inscriptions: 'I love you a little, a lot, passionately and not at all', based on a game played by plucking the petals from a daisy. In the traditional language of flowers, roses symbolised love and daisies, innocence.

The idea of hinged panels was also used by the Parisian jeweller Jean Baptiste Fossin (1786-1848) who created a ring for the Duchesse de Fitz-James combining lockets of hair under panels bearing the initials of her six children.

Physical description

Gold ring, enamelled with sprigs. A small hinged lid around the circumference conceals amatory mottoes beginning 'JE T'AIME'.

Place of Origin

France (made)

Date

1830-60 (made)

Artist/maker

Unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Enamelled gold

Marks and inscriptions

'JE T'AIME passionement'; JE T'AIME pas du tout; JE T'AIM u[n peu]; JE T'AIME[beau]coup 'I love you passionately,' I don't love you at all; I love you a little; I love you a lot

Dimensions

Depth: 0.6 cm, Diameter: 2 cm

Object history note

Ex Sir John Evans and Mrs C J Longman Collections.

A similar ring is illustrated in Anna-Beatriz Chadour 'Rings: the Alice and Louis Koch collection', cat. 1476 and cat. 1482. A closely related ring in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris has hallmarks for 1828. 'Historic Rings' by Diana Scarisbrick illustrates a similar ring which bears mourning rather than love inscriptions (cat.404).

Descriptive line

Gold ring, enamelled with sprigs. A small hinged lid around the circumference conceals amatory mottoes beginning 'JE T'AIME', France, 1830-60.

Materials

Gold; Enamel

Subjects depicted

Love; Floral sprays

Categories

Metalwork; Jewellery

Collection code

MET

Download image
Qr_O118638
Ajax-loader