“We will have rings and things and fine array” – William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shew.
The theme for "Smile on Saturday" on the 2nd of March is "rings" - more particular finger rings. Luckily for me, I have a wonderful choice of rings to choose from, through the contents of my own jewellery box and those of friends, which left me with a plethora of pieces. My hardest decision was which one to choose. In the end I settled upon this wonderful Etruscan Revival finger ring made of eighteen carat gold, set with baguette turquoises and seed pearls in a most elaborate setting. In the later Georgian period archaeologists unearthed the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, finding within them, a trove of treasures from antiquity. The discoveries captured the imagination of the people of the British Empire and jewellers began to take note of the styles and designs coming from these ancient worlds. This included Etruscan style, which sparked an Etruscan Revival period in jewellery design. Victorian Britain in the 1830s, when this ring was made, was experiencing a period of great prosperity and innovations which allowed its jewellers access to a greater amount and variety of precious materials to work into their creations. New technology allowed them to work with these materials in ways never before seen, but the new discoveries in the remains of the Roman empire spurred many to use these resources to craft loving homages to the long dead artisans of ancient times. The Etruscan Revival created impressive arrangements of gold painstakingly engraved to create dazzling, timeless pieces. Made for a Victorian lady with a dainty hand, I can only slip this ring onto either of my little pinkie fingers. I hope you like my choice for this week’s theme and that it makes you smile.