Mortuary ring at Mayence.
In the second cut the inscription of the reverse, excepting a few letters, is erased in the process of fastening the ring to it, by the melting of the metal.
Mortuary ring at Mayence.
A metal ring with inscription translated ‘In Dei nomine, Amen.’
A gold finger-ring with a figure in the centre of the shield; the ornaments of dragons on the outer panels are inlaid with dark blue enamel:—
Mortuary ring at Mayence.
In ancient times rings were burnt with the corpse. When Cynthia’s shade appears to Propertius, he remarks: ‘Et solitam digito adederat ignis;’ ‘a fact (remarks the Rev. C. W. King) which fully accounts for the number of fine intagli partly or wholly calcined which every collector meets with not unfrequently, and often with the greatest regret at the destruction of some matchless specimen of the skill of the engraver.’