Renaissance Gemstone Ring. Western Europe (Italy?), mid-16th century. Photo courtesy Les Enluminures.

gold, ruby and enamels. Bezel 10 x 10 x 8 mm; circumference 59 mm; weight 10.7 g; US size 8 ¾, UK size R

This fashionable and heavy ring combines the skills of a master goldsmith (adept at sculpting the forms of the hoop and bezel), the taste of a painter (evinced by the traces of red, white, and blue enamel) and a skilled stone cutter (who brough out the attractiveness of the Ceylon ruby). Women portrayed in High Renaissance Italian paintings by the likes of Raphael and Veronese wear rings similar to this one. This ring forms a transition between the plainer Gothic gemstone rings, especially the cusped rings of which echoes remain here, and the later Renaissance and Baroque rings on which goldsmiths sculpted elaborate shoulder decoration. # 307-2

Les Enluminures. MasterArt at TEFAF 2014. 14-23 march 2014 - http://www.masterart.com/