A Medieval gold ring brooch

A Medieval gold ring brooch.

French or English, 13th century.

Measures 2.6cm in diameter.

Weighs 3.3 grams.

Provenance:
- Comtesse Martine-Marie-Octavie Pol de Béhague (1870-1939), Paris; thence by descent to Marquis Jean-Louis Hubert de Ganay (1922-2013), France.
- Antiquités et Objets d'Art: Collection de Martine, Comtesse de Béhague, Provenant de la Succession du Marquis de Ganay, Sotheby's, Monaco, 5 December 1987, lot 205.
- Private English Collection.

The ring is engraved ‘+RV*RLVA*TEMIGP*VGDEI*ME’, which is a latin inscription, as yet unidentified but the inclusion of ‘DEI’ (the latin word for God) alludes to a religious sentiment.

The fastening pin bears a French control mark “ET” denoting that it has travelled through a French assay office in the 19th century.

A ring brooch with similarly engraved decoration can be found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Accession Number: 2018.355

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/773198