Fig. 07: Collection TN: From England, Tudor period, 15th-16th centuries, silver. The return to Greek and Roman antiquity influenced practically every area of life of people's lives in the Renaissance, including jewellery design.
During the Renaissance, the Fede symbol was refined, polished in the truest sense. The means of design became more personal, the expression more individual, the ornaments richer, embellishments were increasingly filled with enamel and inscriptions became more private. The double hoops of a gimmel ring now often bore the names of the respective couple together with a quotation from the Bible, which reminded of the indissolubility of Christian marriage. Extremely popular was the Latin motto: Quod ergo Deus coniunxit homo non separet - "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder." (Gospel according to Matthew, IXX, 6.)
When Martin Luther married his Katharina von Bora in Wittenberg in 1525, he apparently received a gimmel ring as a gift. An unknown author wrote in 1872 about Luther's wedding in the "Gartenlaube. Illustrirtes Familienblatt" (issue 13, pp. 205-207): "Among other gifts, the most remarkable are two wedding rings, which the Nuremberg councilor Wilibald Pirckheimer had made by the famous goldsmith Albrecht Dürer. Luther's ring is adorned with a diamond and a ruby, the symbols of loyalty and love, and contains, in addition to the letters M. L. D., the words: WAS.GOT.ZU.SAMEN.FIEGET.SOL.KEIN.MENSCH.SCHEIDEN. The other one, which Catherine was wearing, has a rather large ruby set in a round conical box and consists of a main and two side hoops, which are firmly connected and decorated all around with images from the Passion of Jesus in openwork and raised work." Both wedding rings, designed by none other than Albrecht Dürer, are unfortunately lost today. Martin Luther's wedding ring was probably a gimmel ring, one hoop had a diamond on the bezel, the second a ruby, both in the table cut, typical of the time. The interlocking hoops revealed the marriage motto in German only when open. It is quite possible that the precious stones were held by two hands in relief, the mani in fede, as can be seen on an exclusive wedding ring from the Alice and Louis Koch Collection in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich ("Wedding ring with gemstones and inscriptions, around 1590-1600"). A 19th-century reconstruction of Katharina Bora's wedding ring is in the Jewellery Museum of Pforzheim. This replica was probably made based on the research results and sketches from the "Gartenlaube". Her wedding ring consisted of three hoops, but was obviously not a gimmel ring: "The three hoops are firmly connected and cannot be taken apart. The inner face of the main hoop shows the names of the engaged couple, whereas on the side hoop is inscribed in small letters June 13, 1525. This is the date of the engagement and marriage at the same time." (Die Gartenlaube, 1872. Luther’s Wedding Ring, Issue 40, p. 667.)
The love mottos and marriage vows were now mostly invisible to outsiders, attached to the inside of the ring hoop and thus as close as possible to the wearer. The mottos were often tender, intimate messages intended only for the eyes of the loved one. They expressed strong personal feelings.
From William Shakespeare, who met the taste of contemporary audiences, we can now draw conclusions about the fashion, habits and customs of the time. That is why he is quoted several times at this point. He referenced the popularity of the gimmel ring when he had Emilia say to Desdemona, "Marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint-ring". (Otello, IV, 3.) Even for a gimmel ring, Emilia would not marry.
In "The Merchant of Venice", Shakespeare alluded to the popular secret love messages in finger rings: Nerissa is extremely angry with Graziano when she discovers that he has parted with the posy ring she had given him with the inscription Love me, and leave me not: "What talk you of the posy or the value? You swore to me, when I did give it you, that you would wear it till your hour of death, and that it should lie with you within your grave." (V, 1.)
While earrings and bracelets played a subordinate role in the Renaissance, finger rings and large necklaces attracted all the attention. Those who could afford it were happy to stack several rings on one finger. Giving away finger rings as a token of friendship and love seems to have been extremely popular. In Shakespeare's "Merchant" there are three such gifts of love that are very important to those affected. So Shylock is distraught when he learns that his daughter has exchanged his late wife's ring for a monkey: "It was my turquoise, I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor. I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys." (III, 1.) And the whole piece ends with Graziano's words: "Well, while I live, I'll fear no other thing, so sore as keeping safe Nerissa's ring." (V, 1.) The emotional importance of love rings cannot be overlooked.
A sophisticated extension was the gimmel ring with three ring hoops that were intertwined with a complicated twist-and-screw mechanism - this ring type should actually be called a "triple-hoop ring". One ring hoop held one right hand, one ring hoop held the second right hand, and the middle ring hoop was adorned with one or two hearts. Only when closed did the two hands join and clasp the hearts. A beautiful example, made around 1575, is in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
The combination of hand and heart, as a reinforcement of the message of love, became more and more common even with a single ring hoop. The bezel was formed by two right hands, which firmly encircled a heart. Shakespeare also adopted this popular, universally recognizable, and romantic image of the heart and hand in his Tempest, when Ferdinand swears, "Here's my hand," and Miranda replies, "And mine, with my heart in't. " (III, 1.)
From around the middle of the 17th century, entire sets of jewellery developed, the parures, several pieces of jewellery that matched one another, consisting of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches and - in the courtly context - a tiara. However, the finger ring, which traditionally had a personal association or function, never belonged to a parure.
As a symbol of immortal love, or for the eternal bond, it has remained customary up to modern times to exchange a ring at a wedding. Those who could afford it had it set with an expensive gemstone. If these rings had no inscriptions, it is impossible today to connect them with their original purpose. But the clearly recognizable, timeless symbols such as hearts, love knots, gimmel rings and mani in fede remained in fashion. For most women, the wedding ring was their most valuable possession, their life insurance, so to speak, the loss of which was tantamount to catastrophe. Although many wives chose to be buried with their wedding ring, others passed it on to their offspring, carrying it through generations. There were no rules on which finger the wedding ring was put on, which could explain the striking size differences between these rings. In general, our ancestors were extremely uncomplicated when it came to where the wedding ring should be worn: A widespread custom was to wear the rings on a silk or velvet black band around the wrist or neck, so the inherited ring could also be worn, if it did not fit on a finger. Why not resume this beautiful practice?
Fig. 08: Collection TN: late 17th century, gold. This noble solid gold ring could have served as an investment or as a provision for a widowhood. One hand is elegantly ringed and both wrists are adorned with lace cuffs. Hand ruffs, which were very fashionable from the second half of the 16th and 17th centuries.
×