English or German, 17th/ early 18th century | Memento Mori Ring

This intriguing and startling cameo representing a skull recalls a similar ring in the Beverley collection of gems at Alnwick Castle (inv. no. (10658) K120). As in the present gem the stone has been ingeniously carved to form a skull the with lighter layer contrasting against the black ground. The Alnwick cameo is dated to the 16th or 17th centuries and has been catalogued by Diana Scarisbrick with a quote from Fletcher's play The Chances (circa 1615-1625): 'And keep it as they keep deaths heads in rings. To cry memento to me.'

RELATED LITERATURE

D. Scarisbrick, C. Wagner and J. Boardman, The Beverley Collection of Gems at Alnwick Castle, London, 2017, p. 98, no. 89