18th c ‘Love is Thee Bond of Peace’ Posy Ring

An early-mid 18th century posy ring, of a rich 22k yellow gold, the interior inscribed, ‘Love is thee bond of peace’. Posy rings were exchanged for betrothals and marriages, and as tokens of sentiment for friends and lovers. The short phrases inscribed to the inner surface — posies — are simple records of feeling, to be bonded intimately against the flesh. By the early 18th century, British-made posy rings had largely consolidated under a unified form: a D-section shaped hoop, italic inscription script, and the maker’s initials struck as a rectangular cartouche. The present ring hews closely to standard form, and bears a well-documented posy: “Love is the bond of peace” is recorded in the 1674 edition of “Love’s Garland: or, Posies for Rings” (no. 102); two early 18th c posy rings in the British museum also bear this message (AF.1338, AF.1339), while another two examples are in the Griffin Collection (p.120-21, Posy Rings from the Griffin Collection by Diana Scarisbrick). Joan Evans’ “English Posies and Posy Rings” records three more examples bearing the same message, including one in the author’s own collection. The minor spelling variation in the present posy is normal for the period. For instance, one example in the British Museum is rendered, “Love is the bond of piece” (AF.1338) , while another recorded in Joan Evans reads, “Love is the band of peace” (p. 73). All surviving examples with this message, present ring included, show remarkable consistency in the stylization of the capitalized ‘L’ in ‘Love’. The present ring bears the jeweler’s initials ‘WF’, stylized in gothic script within a rectangular cartouche. The identity of this ‘jeweler WF’ remains unknown, but three rings—one posy and two mourning rings dated 1726 and 1731—bearing this ‘WF’ mark is in the British Museum (1961,1202.150, 62.4/144, AF.1608), in addition to a posy ring in the Museum of London (62.4/144). This mark is also recorded on p. 210 of “English Goldsmiths and their Marks” by Charles James Jackson. According to the British Museum, ‘jeweler WF’ is presumed to have been active between 1726-1766. Nearly all surviving inscriptions by ‘jeweler WF’ share stylistic quirks: no preparatory draft lines were used, and apostrophe-like marks can be found hovering above words; on the present posy, there’s an apostrophe-like squiggle right after the word ‘is’, which is similar to the squiggles found between the words “our” and “love” on British Museum 1961,1202.150. Posy rings vary greatly in heft, with lightweight examples weighing under 2 g and more substantial examples being highly sought-after; the present ring is a very nice 5.1 grams.
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