The extravagance and tastelessness shown in many of the more elaborate forms of the memorial ring, have had the natural result of causing a reversion to the severe simplicity of the earlier types, and a plain, but massive gold ring, with the words, “To the memory of ——” became the usual type.
1, memorial ring of Charles I, concealed portrait beneath a table-cut diamond. 2, memorial ring with two skeletons supporting a sarcophagus. When the lid is raised a minute skeleton is seen within
Fairholt’s “Rambles of an Artist”
1, design for a memorial ring from the “Recueil des Ouvrages d’Orfevrerie” by Gilles l’Egaré; early part of reign of Louis XIV. 2, English memorial ring converted into a memorial of Charles I by the following inscription inside the hoop: “C. R., Jan. 30, 1649, Martyr.” 3, memorial ring, early part of Eighteenth Century
Fairholt’s “Rambles of an Artist”
Gold memorial ring of Capt. Robert Jackson, died October 29, 1726, aged fifty-six years
British Museum