Ring Brooch, 1340–49
German, Middle Rhine
Gold, spinels, sapphires
Technical Glossary
German, Middle Rhine
Gold, spinels, sapphires
7/8 x 3/16 in. (2.2 x 0.5 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 2006 (2006.257)
This brooch, a superb and well-preserved example of fourteenth-century jewelry, comes from a hoard found in the Rhenish village of Lingenfeld in 1969. Because the hoard contained coins issued in Speyer between 1347 and 1349, it is thought to have been buried by a member of the local Jewish community fleeing persecution in 1349 for the safety of a neighboring town.
