CategoriesJewelry and Fashion Object Types
Rings
Finger rings for sealing, betrothal, remembrance and adornment, from ancient signet rings to modern solitaires and studio designs.
No works indexed yet · 10 related artists
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About
Before signatures, rings signed documents: engraved signet rings pressed owners' marks into clay and wax in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Rome. Romans also exchanged betrothal rings, and in early modern England posy rings carried short inscriptions of love inside the band. Mourning rings, often in black enamel, remembered the dead.
In 1886 Tiffany & Co. introduced a six-prong setting that raised a single diamond above the band, a design still standard for engagement rings. Harry Winston arranged diamonds in clusters so the metal almost disappears, Paloma Picasso designed bold gold forms for Tiffany from 1980, and Wendy Ramshaw made sets of stacking rings displayed on turned stands. Taos Pueblo jeweller Maria Samora works in textured gold. Look inside the band for hallmarks and inscriptions, and at the shank for signs of resizing.
