{"product_id":"georgian-crequy-canaples-portrait-miniature-mourning-ring-1785","title":"Rare Count of Créquy Portrait Ring","description":"\u003cdiv\u003eA Georgian mourning ring for one of the strangest noblemen of 18th-century France: \u003cstrong\u003eHugues de Créquy, Comte de Canaples\u003c\/strong\u003e (the Count of Canaples), more commonly known as \u003cem\u003eLe Barbu\u003c\/em\u003e, “the Bearded One”. Surviving accounts give his death only as 1785, but with no further date. This ring is the only known source which reveals his full date of death.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe Créquys were among the oldest noble families in northern France, a line of crusaders, marshals and cardinals. Hugues, who inherited the title of Canaples from his brother, cared little for any of it. He was a Voltairean deist: like Voltaire, he believed in a creator God who set the universe in motion and then left it alone, so he had no use for priests, miracles or prayer. In Catholic France it came close to scandal. In 1768 he formally instructed the curé of Orville not to name him in the parish prayers, declaring prayer to be an act of rebellion against God. The story delighted Voltaire.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eHe stayed a bachelor into old age. Asked why, he replied that he was waiting for someone to ask him. Someone did: Marie de Comerford, a young Irishwoman said to have been in his household. They married in his seventies. He left Orville, which he found too cramped, for a grander château, Château de Caumesnil, grew the waist-length beard that gave him his name, and withdrew from society. When he died in 1785, aged 82, Paris gossip claimed his wife had poisoned him and fled with his fortune. Within a year she was in London, styling herself Countess de Créquy.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThat makes the ring all the more intriguing. Its gold content is 9K gold, which means that it was made in England (French standard was 18K), and therefore this ring was almost certainly commissioned by Marie de Comerford herself to wear as a mourning ring. A truly rare and important ring. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe miniature, painted in watercolour on ivory and set beneath rock crystal, shows him just as legend describes: bald, white-bearded, pale-eyed, in a buttoned green coat. The back is engraved \u003cem\u003eHugo Comes de Crequy Canaples ob. 2 Feb 1785 Æ 82\u003c\/em\u003e: “Hugh, Count of Créquy-Canaples, died 2 February 1785, aged 82.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe broad bezel curves to the finger and sits comfortably for its size. It is part portrait, part historical document, and wholly unique.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDetails:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1785; English; painted miniature on ivory under rock crystal; 9K rose gold (tested); bezel 3 × 2.2 cm; 9.64g; UK V, US 10½, can be resized.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Overall condition is very good. There is fine dust and spotting beneath the crystal, visible in the photographs, and light wear to the gold.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ravensbury Antiques","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49352376484148,"sku":null,"price":4280.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6784\/5428\/files\/crequy-ring-9.jpg?v=1793219862","url":"https:\/\/ravensburyantiques.com\/en-at\/products\/georgian-crequy-canaples-portrait-miniature-mourning-ring-1785","provider":"Ravensbury Antiques","version":"1.0","type":"link"}