Christian ring, Naples Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANFortnum FR.740.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANFortnum FR.740 AshLI 446

A bronze ring, with inscription in retrograde lettering on a square bezel (Fortnum 1880).

Dimensions not available

Naples 4th/5th century AD Bought at Naples (Fortnum 1880). From the collection of Charles Drury Edward Fortnum Fortnum (1820-1899), who was an art historian and collector, with particular interest in collecting sculpture, bronzes, maiolica, and rings from Renaissance Italy. He published catalogues of maiolica and bronzes in the South Kensington Museum (later, the Victoria and Albert Museum). Fortnum was instrumental in the history of the development of the Ashmolean Museum, making a substantial donation to allow the collections at the University Galleries on Beaumont Street to come to fruition, and also both lending and subsequently donating a large part of his collection to the museum (Wilson 2004). This item was given to the Ashmolean in Nov. 1889 (Western Art ms. Fortnum Collection).
CRESCENS VIVAS

Crescens, may you live

The formula suggests a Christian cont

Fortnum (1880) p.355 no.43; Western Art ms. Fortnum Collection FR.740

Fortnum C.D.E. 1880 Additional notes on finger rings and on some engraved gems of the early Christian period Archaeological Journal 37 351-63 Wilson T. 2004 Fortnum, Charles Drury Edward (1820–1899) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford Oxford University Press, online edition http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9951, accessed 14 March 2017