Mourning ring, gold, painting on ivory

Dateca. 1814

MediumGold alloy, glass or quartz, paint, white substrate

DimensionsL(bezel): 1 1/16"; W(bezel): 5/8"; D: 7/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1964-354

DescriptionMourning ring: beaded bezel of pointed oval outline; inset of miniature under beveled glass painted in sepia and gold on ivory of a standing male figure leaning in sorrow on a pedestal with urn with willow branches in the background; plain band spread at top and soldered twice on either side of bezel. Inscribed: "SARAH- ELMENDORF-OB- (remainder indistinct)" in block letters around picture and "SE" in block letters on face for Sarah Elemendorf (b. ca.1793- died December 27, 1813).
Label TextSarah Elmendorf (ca. 1793–1813) died unmarried on December 27th, 1813, at about the age of twenty. Her initials are painted on the tomb depicted on this ring.
InscribedPainted with "SARAH ELMENDORF" on largely illegible gold inscription on black border of oval;"SE" painted in black on tomb
ProvenanceThe ring may be the "1 Mourning Ring Gold $3" listed in the inventory of Peter Edmund Elmendorf II, (1764-1850), Sarah's father, filed with the Surrogate's Court, County of Albany, February 24, 1836. (Mss. Glen Sanders papers, Colonial Williamsburg.)