353 (22)

326

Dress Accessories

Stirrup-shaped rings with imitation gemstone settings

1608    BIG82 acc. no. 2301 (context 2591) ceramic phase 8 fig 215

Pewter (AML); hoop rising to a pointed bezel set with a false cabochon; extemal d c.23mm; intemal d 20mm.

1609    SWA81 2661 (unstratified) fig 215 Bronze (AML); slender hoop rising to a pointed bezel set with a glass cabochon; extemal d 21mm; internal d 17mm.

A form of finger ring popular in England from the middle of the 12th century for at least three hundred years was the ‘stirrup-shaped’ ring (Hin-ton 1982, 14), so-called in modern times on account of the shape of its hoop. The recovery of an example in pewter (no. 1608) from a deposit in

London dating to the middle of the 13th century (ceramic phase 8) accords with the established chronology, while another madę from bronze and set with a glass cabochon is unstratified (no. 1609). The pewter finger ring is set with a false stone, which was cast in one with the hoop. Its manufacture may be compared with other 13th-and 14th-century finger rings, which were mass-produced in pewter (see nos. 1630-43). The materials used for both these finger rings, show that they must have been among the cheapest produced. Other stirrup-shaped finger rings in base metal recorded from England have some-times proved, however, to be set with cabochons of semi-precious stones, such as gamets (eg Geddes and Carter 1977, 287, no. 2).

It is known that ‘stirrup-shaped’ rings were sometimes wom by women as well as by men.