Roman 21K+ Gold Ring with Carnelian Intaglio of Clasped Hands, Dextrarum

Roman, Imperial period. A finger ring of high-purity gold (tested at 88.6 percent, about 21.3 karats). The hoop is hammered into nine flat faces. The broadest face carries a bezel set with an oval carnelian intaglio, a warm translucent orange-red stone. The gem is cut with a dextrarum iunctio: two right hands clasped at the center, each wrist marked by incised lines that read as sleeve cuffs. Romans used this gesture to show agreement, loyalty, and trust. It appeared on betrothal and marriage rings and also on rings that marked friendship or political and military alliances. Because an intaglio is carved into the stone, the ring could also serve as a seal, pressing the clasped hands in relief into wax or clay. The small hoop suggests it was made for a slender finger. The dextrarum iunctio, the "joining of right hands," was the central act of the Roman marriage ceremony. In funerary reliefs and on sarcophagi, husband and wife are shown clasping right hands, often with Concordia standing between them. The same gesture appears on imperial coins, where it stands for agreement between emperors, between provinces, or between the emperor and the army. The motif became a popular subject for engraved gems in the late first century BCE and kept its double meaning of concordia (harmony) and fides (good faith). Collectors often call the motif "fede," from the Italian "mani in fede," or "hands in trust." That name comes from the medieval and Renaissance love rings that revived the Roman design, and fede rings stayed in use for betrothals in Europe for centuries. A Roman ring like this one is the ancestor of a tradition that runs straight to the modern claddagh and to clasped-hands wedding bands. Item # 205331

Estimate:£1,130.33

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