“seem, how this ring encompasseth thy finger:” Posy Rings to celebrate the Bard's Birthday - high-quality Books & Collections journal (weblog)

                                                                                                                                                              The 400th anniversary of the loss of life of William Shakespeare is the next day, and institutions everywhere were preparing for the day with numerous celebrations. And right here's another technique to savour the day: Les Enluminures, an international antiquarian bookseller committed to medieval and Renaissance-period manuscripts and miniatures, is providing a range of posy rings in a nod to the Bard.

now and again spelled posie or posey (deriving from the French be aware for poetry, poésie), these gold rings were widely wide-spread lover's presents all over France and England from the twelfth in the course of the 18th century. The bands have been engraved on the inside with short inscriptions, always expressing love, affection, or friendship. Many examples have been written in French, then as now, the language of affection. Some inscriptions had been so normal that goldsmiths stored reference books full of stock quotations.

"A Loving wife all the way through existence," England, mid-18th century. Gold. $7,000. Courtesy of Les Enluminures.

                                                                                                                                                                    The posy rings at Les Enluminures date from the 17th to the 18th century and are inscribed in English, with phrases akin to "i like my option," "As God decreed, so we agreed," and "In my sight is my pride." some of the more in vogue inscriptions (even though no longer currently obtainable via les Enluminures) was, "Love me and leave me not," a sentiment engraved on a band given with the aid of Nerissa to Gratiano in the service provider of Venice. Shakespeare's characters commonly exchanged rings: the quote during this piece's title is from Richard III (i 2), the place the king woos the widowed girl Anne. (Richard killed her husband, and th is hasty courtship is a brilliant illustration of the king's mastery of manipulation.) 

Les Enluminures gold posy rings are available for $5,000 to $7,500. See extra here, or stop by their sales space at the Salon foreign du Livre rare in case you ensue to be in Paris this weekend. further examples of posy rings could be discovered on the Ashmolean Museum and at the Victoria and Albert Museum.