Photograph: Gold ring, set with a purple spinel in a claw setting. There is an inscription around the sides.
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Finger ring

Date: 1400s

This gold 'posy' ring (that is, one with an inscription), set with a spinel (the stone), has a love message inscribed around the outside. It says 'pour amor … say douc', meaning 'for love … so sweet'. The inscription is in French, the language of courtly love in medieval times. It seems to have been quite common for those who could afford it to give posy rings as symbols of love - the medieval poet Chaucer mentions, in his Legend of Good Women, the sending of letters, brooches and rings to a woman. This ring was found on the Thames foreshore at Bankside.

Accession number: 80.33

Place of collection: Southwark Bridge (west of), Bankside, London [Southwark] [River Thames]

Material: gold; enamel; gem stone

Measurements: DM 20 mm

Gallery location: Case 26.1

Related material

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Manufacturing

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