Description
Wedding rings are often inscribed; this example features inscriptions in several languages. One cameo of the Roman ring is inscribed with the Greek "EYTYXI" (Good luck) and its hoop with the Latin "DVLCIS VIVAS" (Live sweetly). The other cameo depicts an elaborate ship, a symbol of the church. Its bezel resembles a fingernail, which suggests that it was worn near the tip of the finger, perhaps just above the third joint.



Wedding Ring
Conservation
Date | Description | Narrative |
---|---|---|
4/11/1984 | Treatment | cleaned; other |
Exhibitions
- Jewelry - Ancient to Modern. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1979-1980.
- Objects of Adornment: Five Thousand Years of Jewelry from the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota. 1984-1987.
- Jewelry from the Walters Art Gallery and the Zucker Family Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1987.
- I, Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh. 1996-1997.
- Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry from the Walters Art Museum. Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville; The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota; The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2006-2009.
- Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry. El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso. 2010.
Provenance
Collections of Alessandro Catellani, Rome, [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [said to be from France]; Alessandro Castellani Sale, Rome, March 17-April 10, 1884, lot 924; E. Guilhou, Paris, by 1912, by purchase [no. 439 in 1912 catalogue]; Sale, Superb Collection of Rings Formed by the Late Monsieur E. Guilhou, London, Sotheby & Co., November 9, 1937, lot 406, pl. 14; Jacob Hirsch, New York, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Joseph Brummer, Paris and New York, 1945, by purchase [Brummer inv. no. N6212]; Joseph Brummer Sale, New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, May 12, 1949, lot 254; Walters Art Museum, 1949, by purchase.
Inscriptions
[Inscription, Greek] EYTYXI; [Inscription, Latin] DVLCIS VIVAS [Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum XIII.3(2) 10024.63
Credit
Museum purchase, 1949
Creator
- Roman (Jeweler)
Period
3rd-4th centuryAccession Number
57.1824Measurements
H: 1 1/8 x W: 9/16 in. (2.86 x 1.5 cm)Geographies
- Roman Empire (Place of Origin)
- France (Place of Discovery)