The bezel of this plain gold ring is set with the silhouette of a young woman, signed by John Miers. Silhouettes were a quick and affordable way to catch a likeness to set into a piece of jewellery which could be given to friends or family.

John Miers was born in 1758 at Quarry Hill, Leeds and died on the 2nd of June 1821, probably at his house and workshop at 111 Strand, London. He was the most celebrated profilist or silhouette artist of his period.

'Profiles' or ‘shades’ were an affordable and fashionable form of portraiture. They became even more fashionable after about 1775, when Johann Kaspar Lavater published his hugely popular Essays on Physiognomy. He claimed that one could detect a person’s character by concentrating on his or her main features. These would reveal both virtues and vices. Lavater illustrated the book with numerous simple black profiles. Miers would certainly have been aware of Lavater’s work. As a Nonconformist, he attended the Dissenting Chapel in Hull and later, Dr Hunter’s Chapel, London Wall. Henry Hunter had visited Lavater in Zurich in 1787 and received permission to translate his work on physiognomy into English.

Miers advertised his services liberally. Until he settled at his house on the Strand in London, he travelled to various large cities and was visited by customers intending to have their silhouettes done. The process, advertised by Miers as producing ‘Most striking Likenesses taken in One Minute upon an entire New Plan’ involved the sitter being placed between a bright light and a sheet of paper. The outline of the shadow was traced onto paper which could then be used to paint onto ivory or card made to the size required.

An advert placed by Miers in Newcastle gives an idea of the appeal of the process:
“At Mr. Bellows, Glover, High Bridge, where he takes the Most Perfect Likenesses in Miniature Profile on a much improved Plan, that in point of Likeness and Elegance, exceeds every other Profiles that have yet appeared. He humbly solicits those who please to favour him with their commands, that they will take the Earliest opportunity, as they may depend on a Perfect Likeness, in an elegant gilt frame and Glass at 5s. each, or reduced on ivory for Rings, Pins, or Bracelets at the same price.
N.B. Ladies and Gentlemen having by them Shades of their Living or Deceased Friends may have them reduced to any size. The Likeness preserved and dressed in the present Taste.”

The resulting profiles or shades were put in frames, lockets, pins and rings and given to family, friends and lovers. Public figures and celebrities were also popular such as the actress Mrs Siddons, whose portrait Miers proudly advertised.

John Miers settled in London by 1791 and set himself up as a jeweller in partnership with John Field. He was succeeded by his son William who was a jeweller, engraver and frame maker and claimed on his trade card that he ‘preserved all the original profiles for nearly half a century, and can supply copies of every size without the necessity of sitting again.’