Dedicated to Anne Staneway Obt 8 Mar 1780 AE 20: There is white enamel, domed crystal, the sepia painting and high relief tomb motif with the skull and crossbones on top, painted on the tomb is ‘tempus fugit’ (or ‘time flies) as the winged hourglass . There is the willow, cypress and all this sits underneath a piece of domed crystal.
This piece stems from 1780, a time when Neoclassicism had become entrenched in mainstream culture and thought. Death, for its morbidity and harkening back to earlier times of less affluence and social mobility, had lost the memento mori symbolism. The meaning of the memento mori symbolism, while still in use somewhat for trinkets to denote the original intent (of understanding mortality), rather than be staunch reminders of death that had been popular in previous generations. This is why this ring is such a curiosity.
[The Art of Mourning is a fabulous website for all kinds of momento mori jewellery and other death-related curiosities]