Ring

Details

Descriptive Terms

mourning rings
miniatures (paintings)
rings (jewelry)
gold (metal)
ivory (tooth component)
human hair
watercolor (paint)
Neoclassical
mourning
Ring

Label

A wealthy merchant, Thomas Roberts of Newburyport, Massachusetts, left a substantial sum to his sisters and nephew when he died at age twenty-five. The ring most likely belonged to one of his two sisters. The artist mixed Thomas's chopped hair with sepia-colored paint, reinforcing the personal connection between the dead and the living.

Inscription

"Thomas / Roberts / obiit / 24 Maii / 1782 / Aetatis / 25" (Engraved)

Additional Identification Number

890

Maker

Unknown

Dimensions

1 1/8 x 5/8 (HxW), 3/4 (diameter) (inches)

Credit Line

Gift of Helen Howe Allen

Accession Number

1977.21

Exhibition Notes

"Hidden Treasures from Elegant Eras," Historic Jewelry from the Collections of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities presented by Shreve, Crump & Low, September 15 - November 30, 1995. "Jewelry at Historic New England," Online exhibit presented by Historic New England launched September 30, 2007 at www.historicnewengland.org/jewelryhistory/.

Reference Notes

For an overview of miniature paintings in New England, see Shusan, Elle, "Tokens of Sorrow: New England Portrait Miniatures and Mourning Jewelry," in The Art of Family: Genealogical Artifacts in New England, ed. D. Brenton Simons and Peter Benes (2002): 127-143; and Fales, Martha Gandy, "Jewelry in America: 1600-1900," (1995): 83-97.

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