Silver 'decade ring' with an oval bezel engraved with the sacred monogram, possibly England, 17th century

Silver 'decade ring' with an oval bezel engraved with the sacred monogram

Bequeathed by Lt. Col. G. B. Croft-Lyons FSA

A very similar decade ring engraved with IHS under a cross and three nails is in the Norwich castle museum collection and two others are in the British Museum (Dalton 1912, 799 and 800)

Lt-Col George Babington Croft Lyons George Babington Croft Lyons was an antiquary and collector who loaned, and later bequeathed, 978 objects (ceramics, sculpture, metalwork (particularly silver and pewter), textiles and woodwork) and 391 photographic negatives to the Museum. George Babington Croft Lyons was born on 15 September 1855. Nothing is known of his early life. On 23 May 1874 he was promoted to Lieutenant with the Essex Rifles. He was admitted Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London, on 7 January 1904 and served on its Executive Council from 1908 to 1926; he was a Vice-President from 1917 to 1921. Croft Lyons was also actively involved with the Burlington Fine Arts Club, publishing a number of articles in the Burlington Magazine. Like his friend, George Salting, when Croft Lyons’s collection outgrew his house in Neville Street, Kensington, he loaned works for exhibition at the South Kensington Museum; these included ceramics, sculpture, metalwork (particularly silver and pewter), textiles and woodwork. Croft Lyons died in London on 22 June 1926, aged 71. He bequeathed to the Museum all the objects currently exhibited on loan (these amounted to 978 objects and 391 photographic negatives) together with ‘ten other objects to be selected from the works of art remaining in his house so far as these are not already disposed of by specific bequests’. The British Museum, National Gallery and Birmingham Art Gallery were also beneficiaries of Croft Lyons’ bequest.

A decade ring was used in the same way as a rosary. The wearer would use this ring in prayer, saying a ‘Hail Mary’ or Ave Maria for each knob on the ring and, for the centre of the ring, an ‘Our Father’ or Paternoster. The sequence of prayers encouraged the devout to meditate upon events in the life of Christ and the Virgin. Rosaries had been prohibited in England from 1538 and the prohibition extended in the 1547 Injunctions and by a statute of 1571 which forbade signs of overt Catholicism such as ‘any Agnus Dei, cross, picture, [rosary] bead, or such superstitious thing from the See of Rome’. However decade rings, not explicitly condemned, continued to be made and worn by ‘recusant’ Catholics who refused to embrace the new Protestant practices.

The letters IHS on the bezel are a Christogram based on the first three letters of the name Jesus in Greek. This abbreviation was given particular prominence from the 15th century by the Franciscan preacher Saint Bernadino of Siena. He persuaded warring Italian city states to lay down their arms and replace them with banners bearing the letters IHS. It could also be understood as the name 'Iesus Hominum Salvator' (Jesus the Saviour of Mankind'). The three nails engraved under the letters IHS refer to those used for the Cruxifiction and would have served to remind the wearer of Christ's suffering. Wearing a ring with Christian symbols was an outward sign of faith and allowed the wearer to incorporate their religious devotions into daily life.

M.816-1926