Gold granulation and filigree wire work. Mounted with miniature Temple representing the marital home.

FINE CONTINENTAL GOLD WEDDING RING

18th-century

The roof of the building tiled with small gold coins; flanked by square bosses chased with gold coins on the matching band. Apparently unmarked. H: 1.25 inches (3.1 cm). It is suggested that the figurative form of a house on this ring represents Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. A similar, although more elaborate, such ring (German, 14th-century) was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum, “Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven” (2016-17). For other wedding rings in museum collections similar to the present one, see: V. Klagsbald, Catalogue Raisonne de la Collection Juive du Musee de Cluny (1981) pp. 42-9, esp. no. 35 and Judaic Treasures from the Jewish Museum (New York, 1983) p. (illus). For similar (but earlier) wedding rings sold at auction, see Sotheby’s New York, Judaica, 26th June 1985, lots 141-2. See also S.S. Kayser & G. Schoenberger, Art of the Hebrew Tradition (1955) pp. 152-3 (illus); W. Jones, Finger-Ring Lore: Historical, Legendary, Anecdotal (1890) pp. 297-302 (illus); and J. Weinstein, A Collector’s Guide to Judaica (1985) color plate XXIV.