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n It is a tale they narrate, saying the TitannPrometheus stole fire from the Gods and gave it to men, bringing them warmthnand light, and Zeus punished him for his presumption, chaining him to MountnCaucasus and sending each day an eagle to peck out Prometheus’s liver, only fornit to grow back overnight, ready to be eaten again the following day. In time,nZeus relented and freed Prometheus, but in order to fulfil his vow that thenTitan would forever be tied to the mountain, he forced Prometheus to wear an ironnring, into which was set a fragment of stone taken from Caucasus, on his fingernforevermore. Thus, decorated rings came into the world.
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| Prometheus Pecked |
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nOut of the realm ofnmyth, the earliest rings were simple ornaments amongst ancient peoples, oftennjust simple bands of metal, but sometimes decorated, either directly into thenmetal or with inlaid stones. In Ancient Egypt, it was common practice to sealnpersonal possessions with an inscribed seal-stone, and a convenient method ofnkeeping the seal readily available was to drill a hole through it, pass a wirenthrough the hole and twist it around a finger. Over time, these developed intonthe familiar signet ring; the modern ‘wedding ring’ was originally a seal-ring,ngiven by a husband to his new wife, so that she might seal her stores ofnprovisions and food with his mark.
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| Ancient Egyptian sealing a pot |
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nIn Egypt, doors were secured with a cord,nand a seal attached, so that it was immediately apparent if the door had beennopened by any unauthorised person; over time, as locks were developed, a keynserved a similar purpose, and although key-rings were once used, these werenunwieldy and separate keys for separate locks became the norm.
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| Egyptian seals and rings |
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nAlongside signetnrings, rings inscribed with a variety of messages were made. The Frenchnantiquarian, the Comte de Caylus, in his masterwork, (1752-5),nincludes an illustration of a Greek ring bearing the inscription KIPIA KAΛH, ‘BeautifulnCiria’, and another of a triple ring inscribed ZHCAIC, ‘Mayest thou live.’
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| Caylus – Greek KIPIA KAΛH ring |
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nCaylus writes that this type of ring was extremely popular with the Greeks andnRomans, and all manner of messages were included on them. Later, in earlynnineteenth century France, a different kind of message ring emerged, it is saidnfrom the workshop of Jean-Baptiste Mellerio, jeweller to Marie Antoinette andnthe Empress Josephine. Mellerio set his rings with precious and semi-preciousnstones, the initial letters of their names spelling out an acrostic word ornmessage.
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| Jean-Baptiste Mellerio |
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nThus, if he set a ring with a jacinth, an amethyst, a diamond, annopal, a ruby and an emerald, the first letters of these stones spell outnJ’ADORE – ‘I love you’. Although the name of your sweetheart might benpicked out in this manner, by far the most popular messages were Souvenirnand Amitié (Remembrance and Friendship); let’s face it,nsome amours do not last as long as a precious stone and having to have anring reset can be pricey.
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| Elle Vous Va – It Fits You (think Cinderella – if it fits, you’re the one!) |
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nAlthough England was then at war with France, thenfashion spread over the Channel, and acrostic jewellery became very popular,nsometimes retaining words or messages in French, sometimes in English. The mostnpopular words were REGARD (Ruby, Emerald, Garnet, Amethyst, Ruby and Diamond)nand DEAREST (Diamond, Emerald, Amethyst, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire and Topaz).
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| REGARD ring |
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nThis fashion grew throughout the Regency period, reached a peak duringnVictoria’s reign and continued well into the twentieth century; in 1863, thenPrince of Wales (later Edward VII), presented his bride to be, PrincessnAlexandria, with a ring set with a beryl, an emerald, a ruby, a turquoise, anjacinth and another emerald, thus spelling the name by which he was mostncommonly known – Bertie – (the jacinth was used for the ‘i’, as i’s andnj’s are classically interchangeable). This devotional sort of jewellery wasnfine if you had fallen for an Anne, a Beth or a Colin, but if your beloved wasna Catherine, a Bartholomew or an Alexandrina, you would have to use a littlenimagination. Bracelet, brooches, necklaces were obvious solutions, but locketsnor snuff boxes could also be set with the correct stones to spell out a longernname.
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| Caylus – Greek ZHCAIC ring |
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nIn addition to messages of love and devotion, political acrostics werenalso employed, to surreptitiously indicate one’s espousal to a cause ornfaction. Wearing a ring set with a ruby, an emerald, a pearl, an emerald, annamethyst and a lapis lazuli, showed that a person was a supporter of the repealnof the Corn Laws.
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nIf you’d like to try it out for yourself, here is anlist of possible stones that you could use n– there is no definitive list, and in keeping with the origin of thenpractice, names are given in French.
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nA. Amethiste. Aigue-marine.nnn
nB. Brilliant cut Diamond.nnn
nC. Chrisolithe. Carnaline. Chrisophrase.nnn
nD. Diamant.nnn
nE. Emeraude.nnn
nF. No Stonennn
nG. Grenat.nnn
nH. Hiacinthe.nnn
nI. Iris.nnn
nJ. Jasper.nnn
nK. No Stone.nnn
nL. Lapis lazuli.nnn
nM. Malachite.nnn
nN. Natralithe.nnn
nO. Onix. Opale.nnn
nP. Perle. Peridot. Purpurine.nnn
nQ. No Stonennn
nR. Rubis. Rose diamant.nnn
nS. Saphir. Sardoine.nnn
nT. Turquoise. Topaze.nnn
nU. Uraine.nnn
nV. Vermeille (especially yellow garnet)nnn
nX. Xepherine.nnn
nY. Z. No Stones.n
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| Anne of Cleves – with a thumb and two finger rings |
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nAs ‘k’ and ‘w’ are not used in French (apart from innloan and regional words), and because some letters have no stones, Englishnjewellers might substitute a coloured stone for a missing gem, with the initialnletter of the colour standing in for the name of a precious stone. This makesnfor difficulties in interpreting the meaning on some pieces of jewellery, thenmeaning of which may only have been known to the jeweller and the owner of anpiece. Bear in mind too that stones have different names in different languagesn– Emerald/Emeraude is fine for the letter ‘e’ in English and French, butnit is called Smaragd in German, so would stand instead for an ‘s’.
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