Mastery of Design: A Mourning Ring, 1742

The Victoria & Albert Museum

Sadly, mourning rings in honor of children were quite common in the Eighteenth Century. Here, we see such a ring with this gold band, enameled in white and set with rose-cut diamonds bearing a memorial inscription for a baby.

This mourning ring commemorates the death of a baby, Matthew Arnold, who died at the age of eight months in 1742. White, rather than black enamel was usually employed to denote that the deceased was a child, a spinster or a bachelor.

The little Matthew Arnold commemorated here was possibly the son of Matthew Arnold (born 1711) and his wife Charity. The elder Matthew was a merchant, an owner of boats, and a lighterman in Lowestoft in Suffolk, who later relocated to Wapping in London where he was prominent in rebuilding Wapping Church.