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Directory: Antiques: Decorative Art: Jewelry: English: Pre 1837 VR: Item # 1459028

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Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room
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P.O. Box 4684
Baltimore, Maryland 21212
tel. 410-435-3738

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By the late 18th or early 19th century mourning rings evolved where images of death and mourning were contemplated in a more romantic fashion, in beautifully and artfully painted scenes in miniature on the faces of mourning rings. The image on our ring, painted under crystal, is of a woman with a crown of thorns by her hand standing mournfully over a funeral urn, which is adorned with painted swags (to recall the ancient world). A pair of doves, representing divinity, perch above. The painted scene is encircled by tiny pearls which represent purity, or sorrow, as a weeping willow tree hangs overhead. The bezel is oblong in shape and reaches almost knuckle to knuckle. Painted miniature mourning rings were a uniquely English creation and very much loved by English society. Our ring is a miniature work of art, a thing of beauty to look at on one's hand all day long.