Ring with the Portrait of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy
Unknown · c. 1410
Barely two centimetres across, the gold ring carries a tiny portrait of John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy from fourteen hundred and four until his murder in fourteen nineteen. The face is cut in white agate, the black hood in jet set with a ruby, the garment in emerald with a collar of beige chalcedony imitating fur. Hardstone carving, chasing and enamelling meet in an object the size of a fingertip. Inscriptions in black enamel, now mostly worn away, read outside Crucify, crucify him, and inside Truly this was the Son of God, the centurion's words at the death of Christ. On the back of the bezel is a clearly visible carpenter's plane, chased and enamelled in orange-yellow, the emblem John adopted to answer the knotted stick of his rival Louis of Orléans, whom he had murdered in fourteen hundred and seven.
The ring belonged to Richard William Binns at Worcester in eighteen sixty seven, then to Edouard Guilhou, sold in London in nineteen thirty seven, and to Blaise de Montesquiou-Fezensac. An anonymous donor gave it to the Louvre through the Société des Amis du Louvre in nineteen fifty one, retaining its use for life.
Did You Know? The plane on the back of the ring was the duke's way of saying he would shave down the knotted stick his enemy used as an emblem.
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