Israeli Diamond Portal Reports: Jewish Wedding Rings – A Tradition of Craftsmanship

March 28, 2010 - PRLog -- In Judaism, the moment when the ring is slipped onto a woman's finger symbolizes her transformation into a man's wife.  

Traditionally, wedding rings are intended to be simple, and in Judaism, the practice is meant to help the bride easily assess the ring's value.

When thinking of classic wedding rings, the initial association is of a pair of simple, matching, his and hers yellow-gold bands. It is only in recent years that wedding rings have begun sporting unique designs in various metals. Current fashion trends include wedding bands crafted in titanium, white-gold and platinum. Another trend includes a preference of textured finishes over the traditional smooth one, including a distressed, engraved or embellished finish to the metal.

The Roman senator Pliny the Younger dated the custom of wearing wedding rings to the 1st century AD. Jewish wedding rings are documented from the 14th century on: These were ornate wedding bands – goldsmiths' masterpieces which first caught collectors' eyes in the Victorian era and still garner interest among jewelry collectors today.

 

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Ornate antique Jewish wedding ring

In 1871, collector Octavius Morgan wrote about Jewish wedding rings: "There are wide, large rings, decorated with a house or a temple. These are called Jewish wedding rings and often have Hebrew writing on them."

Jewish wedding bands were also known in Renaissance times: a 16th century inventory of the Treasury of the Duke of Bavaria revealed an entry pertaining to a Jewish wedding ring, which is now on display at the Munich Residenz.

A gold and enamel ring featuring a hexagonal pyramid shape was found in 1863 in Colmar, France. The ring was part of a 14th century cache found in the Jewish part of the city, which was an important religious center to Jews at that time.

Antique Jewish wedding bands are stellar examples of the artistry of jewelry making. The rings are made of a metal circle, molded to fit the would-be owner, topped with an architectural feature resembling a house. The goldsmith would then engrave something on the exterior of the "house"; engravings were also commonly hidden inside, in which case the "house" – or bezel – would slide open. The engraving would usually read Mazal Tov, or the Hebrew initials M.T.

 

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Gold and diamond ring Baltinester Jewelry

The rings' houses varied in design form castle-like, to square, round or hexagonal. The structures were representations of either the Holy Temple or synagogues in the diaspora.

Large in diameter and heavy due to the architectural features, many of the rings are practically unwearable. Morgan ponders the question as well, saying that there is no conclusive evidence, either in Jewish tradition or in the Christian documentation recording Jewish practices, of such rings ever having been worn.

Trading in gold, jewels and precious stones was the trade of choice by wealthy Jewish merchants for hundreds of years. The memoir portrait of Gluckel of Hamlen, the daughter of a gold merchant of those times, depicts a wedding ring embroidered in gold thread, hanging from a necklace, which may have been the way the rings were worn after the wedding ceremony.  

Jewish wedding bands are unique and although many of them are magnificent and expensive, none have stones set in them. The rings are devoid of their classical focal point due to a rabbinical ordinance barring setting gemstones in wedding bands, or engraving them with hallmarks – the latter first appearing in the 19th century. Also, Jewish goldsmiths were not allowed to join guilds and mark their creations until circa that time.  

Such ornate rings are not evident when it comes to contemporary Jewish wedding bands, but even today many Jewish-styled wedding bands differ from the conventional. Today's modern designs certainly echo the impressive craftsmanship of their antique counterpart, and many are inscribed with biblical phrases and verses such as “A Woman of Valor.”


By: Iris Hortman, IDI Information Officer

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