Gold ring, the oval bezel engraved with a skull and behind the initials 'A.B', England, 1600-1700.

Gold signet ring, the oval bezel engraved with a skull and behind the initials 'A.B'

Ex Waterton Collection.

The custom of wearing a memento mori ring was obviously well known in sixteenth century England. Shakespeare alludes to it when Falstaff urges Mistress Tearsheet not to speak like a death's head in Henry IV (act II, scene 4) and in Love's Labour's Lost , Lord Biron compares the schoolmaster Holofernes to 'a death's head in a ring' (Act 2, scene 2). A less known play by Marston, The Dutch Courtesan , 1605, alludes to the fate of the courtesans thus: "As for their death, how can it be bad, since their wickedness is always before their eyes, and a death's head most commonly seen on their middle finger'.

Shakespeare Exhibition RF.2005/206

In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the practice of bequeathing rings belonging to the deceased to friends and family was gradually replaced by the custom of leaving a sum of money to buy commemorative and mourning rings. Later in the seventeenth century, rings were distributed at the funeral service to be worn in memory of the deceased. 'Memento mori' (remember you must die) inscriptions and devices such as hourglasses, skulls, crossbones and skeletons became fashionable on many types of jewellery, reminding the wearer of the brevity of life and the necessity of preparing for life in the world to come.

921-1871