Provenance Information

Collection of Benjamin Zucker, New York, by 1985; purchased from Mr. Zucker through Les Enluminures by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016.

Exhibition Information

Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tenn. from Sept. 15, 2006, to Jan. 14, 2007; the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. from Feb. 18 to May 13, 2007; Walters Art Museum, October 19, 2008, to January 4, 2009.

Publication Information

Scarisbrick, Diana. 2007. Rings : Jewelry of Power, Love, and Loyalty. no. 81, p. 63, London: Thames and Hudson, London.

Hindman, Sandra, Beatriz Chadour-Sampson, Reine Hadjadj, Mr. Jack Ogden, and Diana Scarisbrick. 2014. Cycles of Life : Rings from the Benjamin Zucker Family Collection, Les Enluminures. no. 9, pp. 74–77, London: Paul Holberton Publishing.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This work was placed on deposit at the Walters Art Museum from 1985 to 2013. It was displayed as part of the Walter’s traveling Bedazzled exhibition in 2007/8 and has been published twice. The Metropolitan Museum has some 25 Roman gold finger rings, mostly dated to the early imperial period. There is nothing comparable to this large and impressive Late Roman ring. It is significant not only in terms of its bulk but also for its use as a betrothal or wedding ring—a tradition that only became firmly established in the 3rd century A.D. It is a welcome addition to the Metropolitan Museum’s holdings of ancient jewelry.