Signet Matrix: Seal Matrix featuring Cupid, Hope and anchor, with inscription

A rectangular signet matrix made of amber glass, c 1800. This matrix features the female figure of Hope, a cupid and an anchor, with an inscription above them.

Seal matrices also known as signet matrices were used to impress their owner’s mark into wax on documents during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many were made of moulded translucent glass. Little is known of their manufacture. They seem to have been produced for personal rather than commercial use. Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery acquired a collection of twenty-seven seal matrices in 1934. This is one of the items.