Roman Gold Fede Ring | Clasped Hands, Dextrarum Iunctio (Betrothal)

Roman, Imperial period. A gold finger ring with a broad band that rises to a slightly curved, rectangular bezel. Its face carries a circular medallion of two clasped right hands worked in repousse, and a cuff is visible at one wrist. A ring of raised pellets frames the clasp, catching the light like a tiny beaded halo. The gold is high-purity, about 21.6 karats, with the warm, buttery color typical of near-pure metal. The hands are rendered with care: fingers overlap and thumbs fold over the joined palms. This gesture, the dextrarum iunctio, stood for concordia and fides, and was perhaps given here as a token of betrothal, marriage, or a sworn bond. It is a compact, wearable ring in which the gold itself makes the promise. The joining of right hands, or dextrarum iunctio, was one of the most charged gestures in Roman public and private life. It appeared on engraved gems from the late first century BCE and was later used widely on coins, sarcophagi, and finger rings. On a funerary relief or a wedding sarcophagus, the gesture marks a husband and wife bound in concordia. On imperial coinage it can instead stand for the fides, or loyalty, of the army. The right hand was held sacred to Fides, the personified goddess of good faith, whose cult on the Capitoline was among the oldest in Rome. The term "fede," from the Italian "mani in fede," or "hands in faith," is a later name applied in hindsight. It reflects how long the motif lasted: clasped-hands rings continued through the medieval and Renaissance periods and survive in the Irish Claddagh ring today. Item # 205470

Estimate:£300.12

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