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Lot Essay
The 'Four Peers Ring' is a rare yet iconic piece of Jacobite jewellery created to memorialise the noblemen and high-ranking officers executed for supporting the Jacobite cause. Only a further four rings are known to survive: one sold at Lyon & Turnbull (13 May 2015, lot 20), one housed at the National Museums Scotland (inv. no. H.NJ 154) and a further two within the collections of the British Museum (inv. nos. 1418 and 1490, the latter Ex Sir A. W. Franks Collection).
Though all unmarked, these rings are widely believed to have been created by Ebenezer Oliphant, a goldsmith in Edinburgh, and commissioned by Lord Francis Oliphant of Gask. The lack of hallmark supports the attribution, 18th century Scottish jewellery very rarely marked, as does the family association; the Oliphants were staunch supporters of the Stuart claim, opposing the Act of Union in 1707; further actively supporting and funding the Jacobite uprisings of 1715 and 1745. Produced as commemorative pieces and likely gifted by Lord Gask to prominent Jacobean families, the physical composition of the ring reads as an in memoriam. The shank is inscribed with three groups of initials that represent the various officers fighting under Prince Charles and who were ultimately executed for their loyalty to the Stuart cause. Meanwhile the central bezel bears the initials and dates marking the execution of the ‘Four Peers’.
Taking on mythic status within the history of the Jacobian uprising, the four men were the closest and most trusted advisors of the Stuarts: Charles Radcliffe, 5th Earl of Derwentwater (1693 - 1746), executed for his part in the 1715 uprising along with that of his involvement in 1745; William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock (1705 - 1746), a member of Prince Charles’ Privy Council who met his end with the iconic line ‘his punishment was just’; Arthur Elphinstone, 6th Lord Balmerino and 3rd Lord Coupar (1688 - 1746), who facilitated Prince Charles’ escape at the battle of Culloden; and Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat (1667/8 - 1747) who at the age of 80 was the last person publicly beheaded in Britain. Indeed, with their deaths came the final realisation of the Hanoverian’s victory. However, despite the end of Jacobian power within Britain, the undercurrent of familial loyalty remained present - this ring a rare insight into the enduring yet concealed acts of defiance made by those still loyal to the Stuart line.
Though all unmarked, these rings are widely believed to have been created by Ebenezer Oliphant, a goldsmith in Edinburgh, and commissioned by Lord Francis Oliphant of Gask. The lack of hallmark supports the attribution, 18th century Scottish jewellery very rarely marked, as does the family association; the Oliphants were staunch supporters of the Stuart claim, opposing the Act of Union in 1707; further actively supporting and funding the Jacobite uprisings of 1715 and 1745. Produced as commemorative pieces and likely gifted by Lord Gask to prominent Jacobean families, the physical composition of the ring reads as an in memoriam. The shank is inscribed with three groups of initials that represent the various officers fighting under Prince Charles and who were ultimately executed for their loyalty to the Stuart cause. Meanwhile the central bezel bears the initials and dates marking the execution of the ‘Four Peers’.
Taking on mythic status within the history of the Jacobian uprising, the four men were the closest and most trusted advisors of the Stuarts: Charles Radcliffe, 5th Earl of Derwentwater (1693 - 1746), executed for his part in the 1715 uprising along with that of his involvement in 1745; William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock (1705 - 1746), a member of Prince Charles’ Privy Council who met his end with the iconic line ‘his punishment was just’; Arthur Elphinstone, 6th Lord Balmerino and 3rd Lord Coupar (1688 - 1746), who facilitated Prince Charles’ escape at the battle of Culloden; and Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat (1667/8 - 1747) who at the age of 80 was the last person publicly beheaded in Britain. Indeed, with their deaths came the final realisation of the Hanoverian’s victory. However, despite the end of Jacobian power within Britain, the undercurrent of familial loyalty remained present - this ring a rare insight into the enduring yet concealed acts of defiance made by those still loyal to the Stuart line.