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Seal ring

Seal ring

  • Place of origin:

    London, England (made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1545 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Engraved chalcedony, mounted in gold

  • Credit Line:

    Frank Ward Bequest

  • Museum number:

    M.5-1960

  • Gallery location:

    Temporary Exhibition, room 38, case WN1, shelf CA6

  • Download image

Object Type
In the intaglio (the design is incised into the stone) Henry VIII (ruled 1509-1547) is shown full face with a fur-trimmed coat and a flat hat on his head. The letters 'H' and 'R' are engraved on either side of him.

People
In his Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey George Cavendish, who was a member of the Cardinal's household, relates that at Christmas 1529 Henry sent Wolsey a ring. Cardinal Wolsey (1473-1530) had been the King's chief minister, but he had recently fallen from favour. According to Cavendish, the ring 'was engraved with the King's visage within a ruby, as lively counterfeit as possible to be devised. This ring he knoweth well; for he gave me the same.' The ruby ring showing Henry VIII is not known to have survived. While the portrait of Henry engraved on the V&A's ring uses a similar technique, it must be later than the ring Cavendish describes, because the King is shown in late middle age, as in the 1540s, towards the end of his reign. It is not of high quality.

Historical Associations
The intaglio must predate 1576 when an impression of it appears on a seal attached to a deed dated 31 October in the 18th year of Elizabeth I's reign (1558-1603), that is, 1576. The seal is that of Dorothy, wife of John Abington of Hindlip, Worcestershire, who was cofferer to the Queen. Elizabeth was godmother to one of their sons, Thomas, who was born in 1560.

Place of Origin

London, England (made)

Date

ca. 1545 (made)

Artist/maker

unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Engraved chalcedony, mounted in gold

Dimensions

Height: 1.2 cm estimated, cameo, Width: 1.1 cm estimated, cameo

Object history note

Probably engraved and made in London

Exhibition History

Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian Tsars (Victoria and Albert Museum)
The Golden Age of the English Court: From Henry VIII to Charles I (Moscow Kremlin Museums 24 Oct 2012-27 Jan 2013)

Labels and date

British Galleries:
An intaglio is an incised carving on glass or hardstone. Rings set with intaglios are recorded in the inventory of Henry VIII's possessions. This later example may have been given by Elizabeth I in memory of her father to John Abington, the man who made chests and other cases for the Queen. His wife, Dorothy, used an impression of it in the wax seal of a document in 1576. [27/03/2003]
Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian Tsars label text:

Ring with intaglio of Henry VIII
About 1545

This ring was probably given by Elizabeth I to Dorothy Broadbelt, a lady of the queen’s household and at one time keeper of the queen’s parrot. Dorothy used
the intaglio to seal a document in 1576. After her marriage to John Abingdon, her step-sons were implicated in Catholic plots against Elizabeth.

London
Gold, engraved chalcedony intaglio
Frank Ward Bequest
V&A M.5-1960

Categories

Jewellery

Collection code

MET

Download image
Qr_O78598
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