Roman Gold Marriage Ring | Joined Right Hands and Palm Sprig

Roman, Imperial period. A gold finger ring of 21.7 karat purity. The broad band widens into a flat, slightly faceted bezel, and engraved on the bezel is a dextrarum iunctio, two right hands meeting in a clasp. Each wrist ends in a squared, cross-hatched cuff that suggests a sleeve. The hands are cut in brisk, confident lines. Above them rises a slender sprig, perhaps a palm frond or an ear of wheat, and diagonal hatching fills the field below. The image was a Roman shorthand for concordia and fides, the harmony and good faith that held a partnership together. On rings it is most often linked with betrothal and marriage, so this ring was likely a love or wedding token. The same gesture could also stand for friendship or a sworn alliance. The soft, buttery color of the nearly pure gold adds to the appeal. The joining of right hands was among the most charged gestures in Roman life. It sealed contracts, treaties, and oaths. In marriage reliefs and on sarcophagi it marked the moment bride and groom became partners, often with Concordia standing behind them. The right hand was sacred to Fides, the personification of good faith, whose cult was among the oldest in Rome. The motif became popular on engraved gems in the late first century BCE and later appeared on coins honoring the concord of emperors and armies, so it carried political and military meaning alongside the domestic one. The name "fede," from the Italian phrase "mani in fede" (hands joined in faith), comes from much later. Medieval and Renaissance jewelers revived the Roman image for their own betrothal rings, and collectors have applied the term to Roman examples ever since. Ancient fede rings appear in gold, silver, and bronze. The device was either engraved directly into the metal, as here, or cut into a gemstone set in the bezel. Item # 205471

Estimate:£452.13

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