gems, jewelry, history of jewelry, British jewelry, ancient jewelry, antique jewelry, finger rings, glyptic

Sinkankas: A splendid work, carefully designed, tastefully executed catalog of the exhibition held in Goldsmith’s Hall, London, and later in Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, from July to September 1978. Scarisbrick’s introduction is especially valuable for its biographical notes on the principal collectors. Sir John Evans (1823–1908) and Charles Drury Fortnum (1820–1899), whose collections were donated to the Ashmolean. A short section treats rings in general and is followed by another section on ring types which is illustrated by line drawings and furnishing a scheme of classification. Other sections treat dynasties of Egypt, notes on certain catalog entries, after which are the entries themselves, arranged chronologically from New Kingdom scarabs, 1567 BC, to modern rings, the last of which. No 1006, is dated 1978. Entries include description, materials or stones, size, provenance, notes. The large bibliography, one of the best of its kind presently available, includes works on rings in general, special types of rings, catalogues, exhibitions, and important journal articles.