Ring

Memorial rings have been made to commemorate people since the sixteenth century. Money was often left in wills in order for rings to be made for named individuals or to be distributed at the funeral. This white enamel and gold ring was made to commemorate the poet Anna Seward (1742-1809), known in her lifetime as the 'Swan of Lichfield'. She was a correspondent of Erasmus Darwin and Sir Walter Scott, who edited her 'Poetical Works' after her death.

When she died in 1809, she left money for rings valued from five guineas to two guineas to friends and relatives. To Mr William Feary of Lichfield, she left ‘the sum of five guineas either for a mourning ring or any other more acceptable token of my esteem and respect for his virtues’.

She left no instructions as to the design of the ring, leaving it, we presume, to the discretion of her executors, but this ring is still very much in the style of earlier neo-classical rings. There is no overt religious imagery but the weeping willow is a common symbol of grief and a braided section of her hair is set into a small aperture on the front of the bezel. The white enamel was chosen to reflect the fact that she had never married.