Rings of power

The finger ring plays a special role in jewellery. For there is no other jewellery object more highly charged with symbolism and emotionally so closely tied to its wearer. Wearing such a ring is still a privilege and a sign of power, influence and social standing. Since antiquity the seal ring has been a type that has enjoyed high status and from the Late Middle Ages on it has increasingly been designed with coats of arms as hierarchical identity markers.

Rings serve official purposes; they have practical, cultic, magical, social or purely decorative, i.e. jewellery, functions and are subject to prevailing trends in fashion. We know of rings of office, guild rings, amulet and poison rings, and thumb rings for archers as well as wedding rings, engagement rings, friendship rings, mourning rings, and commemorative and memory rings.

The function and symbolic content of a ring are revealed by its specific design, decoration, material and, in some cases, inscriptions. The gemstones used have a very decisive expressive statement, as they have always been based on a specific symbolism. Therapeutic and apotropaic powers are often imputed to gemstones, and their colours are associated with specific characteristics, which are transferred to wearers of these stones.

The developmental history of the ring and the diversity of ring types, functions and meanings can be vividly followed in the MAKK jewellery collection. Rings form the largest group in the collection, comprising some four hundred and sixty objects, with the earliest dating from the fifth millennium BC. The MAKK is indebted for its most extensive selection of rings above all to donations made by Wilhelm Clemens (1847–1934), a collector, and the goldsmith Elisabeth Treskow (1898–1992). Each with a different collection focus, both donors have made a substantial contribution to enriching and improving the quality of the MAKK jewellery collection.