This exquisite ring depicts the traditional Ancient Roman ceremony of joining hands at a wedding. The nuptial fede was traditionally worn on the fourth finger of the left hand: the Romans believed that a nerve ran directly from that finger to the heart. With the advent of Christianity, wedding rings started to feature depictions of crosses and idealised portraits of the groom and the bride, with the figure of Christ in between.
To discover more about Roman jewellery, please visit our relevant blog post: Roman Jewellery: Gold Rings.