Gold, turquoise and enamel ring, late 16th/early 17th century

Of quatrefoil design framing a box bezel set with a cabochon turquoise to a scalloped mount decorated with traces of green and white enamel, size M.

Similar examples of late 16th/early 17th century rings can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Medieval and Renaissance, room 62, case 8.

Cf: Bury, Shirley, Jewellery Gallery Summary Catalogue (Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982), p.203, Case 33, Board K, no.5.
Oman, C.C. Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogue of Rings, 1930. Ipswich, Anglia Publishing, 1993, cat. no. 296.
Dalton, O.M. Catalogue of the Finger Rings: Early Christian, Byzantine, Teutonic, Medieval and Later bequeathed by Sir Augustus Woollastons Franks, K.C.B., British Museum, London, 1912
Jones, William Finger Ring Lore. London, Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly, 1877
Chadour, Anna Beatriz Rings: the Alice and Louis Koch collection, W.S. Maney and Son Ltd, Leeds, 1994
For comparable examples, see cat. nos. 710 and 711
Scarisbrick, Diana Historic Rings: Four Thousand Years of Craftmanship, Kodansha International, 2004, pages 66-67 for comparable examples.

Mounted in gold, with fine scratches and abrassions commensurate with age and wear. Small traces of black and white enamel remaining within engraved decoration, turquoise dark green through age and wear, signs of previous re-sizing to base of shank.
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Turquoise has long been reputed to have talismanic qualities. The Metaphysical poet John Donne (1572-1631) wrote about the turquoise's ability to reflect the health of its wearer: "The compassionate turquoise, that doth tell
By looking pale the wearer is not well"