FORMS OF RINGS AND MATERIALS 73
ening
in an oval bezel ; in this has been inserted an intaglio head in sard,
the shape of the stone following the exact outline of the head, without
any margin.
A
Burgundian ring of a form that M. Deloche believes to be unique, has
an open hoop. At one extremity is a nail-shaped attachment which can be
passed through the „ other extremity, thus closing the ring. A
bronze ring, also Burgundian, of a rare or unique type has at the bezel
a high, oblong projection. Both these rings are of the Merovingian
period which closed in 752 A.D.8
In
no period were a greater number of ring forms produced than in the
Middle Ages. The major part of these mediaeval rings were made as
insignia of office or rank, for sealing official documents, or for
ceremonial use. One of the earliest is that known as the Lorscher Ring.9
It is considered to belong to the end of the tenth, or the beginning of
the eleventh century, and to be a product of German workmanship under
the influence of the Byzantine art of the Merovingian period. The
artistic and finely executed design of the bezel is especially worthy
of admiration. The stone set therein is a light-colored amethyst cut en cabochon and without foil. This ring is now in the Grossherzoglich-Hessisches Museum in Darmstadt.
The
Besborough Collection of Gems, shown in June, 1861, by the
Archaeological Institute of London, was interesting for the high
artistic excellence of the rings in which many of the gems were set. A
number of them rank among the finest examples of Renaissance work in
this direction. One, set with a sard in which a head of Lucilla has
been engraved, shows, carved in flat relief
8 M« Deloche : " Étude historique et archéologique sur les anneaux sigillaires," Paris, 1900, pp. 225, 226, figs.
»Friedrich Henkel, "Der Lorscher Ring," Trier, 1896.
