THE RELIGIOUS USE OF RINGS 269
tures
and effigies they are shown wearing several, and sometimes even a thumb
ring. The celebrated portrait of Leo X, by Raphael, represents the
pope wearing no less than six rings, and the hands of Julius II in
Raphael's portrait are adorned with rings of equal number.
While
the sapphire eventually became the stone especially assigned for use in
episcopal rings, the older specimens which have been preserved for us
show that, in early times, many other precious stones were employed
for this purpose. Indeed, the emerald, or some green stone, seems to
have been given the preference at one time, if we can judge from the
letter sent by Avitus, Archbishop of Vienne to Apollinaris, Bishop of
Valencia. Besides rubies and emeralds, balas-rubies, turquoises,
chalcedonies and even the opal were used, while pearls and garnets,
also appear occasionally.
Possibly
the earliest known specimen of an episcopal ring is in the treasury of
the cathedral of Metz. It is believed to have belonged to Arnulphus,
who was consecrated Bishop of Metz in 614. This ring, which has been
sometimes ascribed to the fourth century, is set with an opaque
milk-white carnelian.
An
episcopal ring found at Oxford and now in the Waterton Collection,
Victoria and Albert Museum, is a curious specimen of the adaptation of
antique gems to Christian uses. The gold circlet is set with an antique
plasma engraved with the bust of a female, the pagan original doing
duty for some Christian saint, or perhaps for the Virgin Mary.34
An intaglio of Jupiter-Serapis was provided by the monks of Durham with
an inscription designating it to be a portrait of St. Oswald.
34 Edmund Waterton, " On Episcopal Rings," The Archaeological Journal, vol. xx, London, 1863, p. 228.
