Georgian Ruby & Diamond Crowned Double Heart Ring

An amatory c. 1750-60s Georgian Rococo crowned double heart ring, set with a natural Burmese no heat ruby (GIA certified) and rose cut diamond in foiled cut-down collet settings, the shank enamel-inlaid with the motto UNIS À JAMAIS (French, “united forever”). According to William Jones in “Finger-Ring Lore”, rings of the present form served as betrothal rings, with the crowned twin heart motif representing “the sovereignty of love over the heart” and “the reigning of fidelity over a marriage” (p. 307). A Rococo ruby & diamond crowned double heart ring of similar form is in the Ashmolean Museum and illustrated on pl.26 of “Finger Rings” by Diana Scarisbrick & Martin Henig. Another example, also featuring crowned hearts in clean halo-free collets, is in the Museum of London (inv. 47.65/2). While a 1764 inventory from the French jeweler Aubert makes mention of a ring with diamond and ruby twin hearts and a shank enameled with a motto (Archives Nationales, Paris, T. 411A), surviving examples of Rococo sentimental rings with non-mourning motto-bearing enameled shanks are rare. An example in the Koch collection, cat. 864, features a shank reading A VOUS SANS PARTAGE (“for you alone”). A heart-shaped cluster ring in the Victoria & Albert Museum is enameled, A PLEDGE OF MY LOVE (M.173-1962). The present ring conforms to traits and features representative of most Rococo rings made between 1750-70, exemplified by a gorgeous profile with c-curl head-to-shoulder junctions, grooved shoulder-to-shank junctions, and a convex rayed posterior.

By the 17th century, the twin hearts motif already came to represent marriage in jewelry design; it’s not uncommon to find betrothal posy rings from this period bearing engraved double hearts in the hoop interior. Likewise, crowns became a popular amatory motif about a century before the Rococo era: a 1671 wedding token given to Princess Wilhelmina Ernestine featured an enameled crown over a heart. A 1633 posy recorded in Joan Evan’s catalogue of English posy rings reads: “This thy desert shall crown my heart” (p. 98). However, it was during the Rococo era that the double heart motif would regularly unite under a crown and achieve new heights of sophistication, popularity, and prevalence. Heart shaped rings made during the Renaissance and Baroque eras almost always featured a single heart. Rococo double heart bezels were popularized by the French as betrothal rings, the twin hearts being a favored motif to represent the ‘culture l’Alliance’ that celebrated marriage as a union of two souls. This design form—a fuller, three-dimensional realization of engraved double hearts on earlier posy rings—was soon made throughout Europe during the 18th century, with minor adaptations to suit local materials and workmanship traditions.
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