13th-15th century AD. A heavy gold ring with D-section hoop engraved with annulets between chevrons, the shoulders with feline-heads in high-relief, facing stirrup bezel set with a polished emerald at the apex. Cf. Portable Antiquities Scheme, WREX-848E6F, for another ring of this period with comparable shoulders.8.63 grams, 26.78mm overall, 19.63mm internal diameter (approximate size British T, USA 9 1/2, Europe 21.26, Japan 20) (1"). Property of an English collector; acquired from John Moor, York, UK, in the late 1990s; accompanied by an independent specialist report and valuation by graduate gemmologist and jewellery expert Anna Rogers, GIA GG, BA, Gem-A, ref. no.168685/07/12/2020; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no. 10454-168685. The animal heads presented here are Romanesque in style, although this would be too early for the generally accepted date range for stirrup rings. Precious stones had a wide variety of associations in this age; a typical example of a late medieval lapidarium is the one by Raymond Lull. The eighteenth chapter is devoted to the virtues and properties of the emerald: 'We saw that as long as we carried it, we healed many suffering falling sickness. By virtue of this stone we also stopped tempests. . . and we tried it on exhausted travellers who immediately recovered from the labours of the long travel.' He prescribed its use for King Robert of Sicily, when troubled by a fit of violent madness, since 'the stone of emerald mitigates the one who wears it, and eliminates impatience from the human body, and resists the Devil, so that he cannot harm by a noxious temptation...' [A video of this lot is available to view on TimeLine Auctions website.]