Mourning Ring

This ring commemorates two sisters, Ann E. Burnley and Catherine Maitland Burnley, who are named in the parallel gold inscriptions in white enamel. The color of the enamel, associated with purity, indicates that they were unmarried when they died. The ring is comprised of two halves that mirror each other and are held together by small pins and sockets. The bezel is divided by two separate triangular compartments with pearl borders (22 pearls in all), each containing a tightly twisted lock of one sister's hair. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it became customary in England to commemorate loved ones with memorial rings, which were sometimes distributed at the funeral. From around 1770, they often contained miniature portraits or held locks of the deceased's hair in small compartments accompanied by inscriptions identifying the person to be remembered.

Ann and Catherine's father was Hardin Burnley (1741-1823), a merchant born in Hanover County, Virginia. He was in partnership with George Brackenridge and they exported large amounts of tobacco, grown at the time by enslaved workers, as well as owning land. A loyalist to Britain, Hardin Burnley moved to London with his wife and children in 1786, after they had lived for several years in New York City, where Ann and Catherine were born. In 1808 the family moved to a house in Brunswick Square, reflecting a high level of financial security. Hardin's buisness and fortune grew, he was an underwriter for Lloyds of London, and a director of the powerful East India Company. An inscription in New Pancras Church, close to Brunswick Square, records that Hardin died in 1823, aged 82. It also records the death of his daughter Ann on 8 July 1803 and "Catherine Maitland Burnley, his second daughter" who "died at sea 3 March 1804 aged 19 and was buried at St. Michaels, Bridgetown, Barbedoes [sic]." Both dates match the dates on the ring. Catherine, Hardin's widow died in 1827, aged 73. It is possible that this ring belonged to her.

Ann and Catherine's brother, William Hardin Burnley (1780-1850), became the largest slaveholder in Trinidad. Their sister, Maria, married the radical Member of Parliament Joseph Hume (1777-1855) who held a qualified anti-slavery stance - advocating for abolition, but also compensation for enslavers.

Inscription

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.