Children’s Death Songs

Georgian: English mourning ring for Clement Collins made of gold & hair, dated 1789

€ 1,190.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Unit price €1,190.00 / piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Georgian: English mourning ring for Clement Collins made of gold & hair, dated 1789

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

You are a shadow by day, And a light in the night; You live in my lament, And do not die in my heart. (Friedrich Rückert, Kindertotenlieder) In the centuries behind us, infant mortality was far higher than it is today - at least in Europe and the Western world. The Dictionary of the Middle Ages states that more than half of the children in that era did not live to the age of 14. In the early modern period, infant mortality then slowly began to decline; the situation only improved significantly with industrialisation in the 19th century. In the case of the present English mourning ring, an inscription reveals the name and dates of life of a child who lives on in memory even after almost 230 years. For the inscription on the underside of the ring head reveals "Clement Collins/ Ob[iit] 11 Feb.r 1789 Aet[atis suae] 4 y[ea].rs". It is thus a memorial ring for Clement Collins, who died on 11 February of the year 1789 at the age of 4. The jewel is made of solid gold and features a braid of hair under a cut crystal. Enclosed under the cover glass, a small strand of hair is also added to the hair background. This is hair of the deceased child. The ring shows itself in typical form of the Georgian age, because it is an English ring. Worthy of collecting, the ring from the year of the French Revolution gives an intimate and immediate impression of an epoch in which the memory of the dead was also kept alive in jewellery - and it holds on to the memory of a child who was not allowed to live to see the spring of 1789.

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In past centuries, death was still omnipresent. Life expectancy was low and the confrontation with death was as present as it was unavoidable. Jewelry had a deep symbolic meaning in this context. Its special role in the area of death, mourning and commemoration can be traced back to the earliest times. A multitude of rules and norms of behaviour were intended to alleviate the grief of the bereaved and to satisfy society's ideas of decency. According to the degree of kinship, mourning times were meticulously determined during which special clothing was to be worn. The mourning clothes also included specially made jewelry whose forms and symbolic contents changed over the centuries.

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Size & Details

Children’s Death Songs

€ 1,190.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Unit price €1,190.00 / piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Our Promise

We want you to be 100% satisfied! For that reason, we examine, describe and photograph all of our jewellery with the utmost care.

You can rely on our years of experience in the trade and our expertise as a professional art historians for reviews of the antique jewellery. As a member of various trade organisations and the British Society of Jewellery Historians, we remain committed to the highest possible degree of accuracy. In our descriptions, we always also indicate any signs of age and defects and never hide them in our photos – this saves you from any unpleasant surprises when your package arrives.

Should you for some reason not be satisfied, please don’t hesitate to contact us so that we can find a solution together. In any case, you can return any article within one month and we will refund the full purchase price.

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Children’s Death Songs

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