Rings: Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty [Hardcover]

Diana Scarisbrick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2007

A magnificently illustrated, international survey of rings through history.

With ravishing reproductions of rings from many countries, this book presents rings through major themes: signets; rings associated with love, marriage, and friendship; devotional, protective, and ecclesiastical rings; memento mori and memorial rings; rings associated with famous people and great events; decorative rings; diamond rings; and rings as accessories.

Rings of all periods are covered—from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome through the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the twentieth century. The examples come from great museums and from private collections, chiefly that of the noted gem dealer Benjamin Zucker.

The author, one of the world's leading jewelry historians, draws on artistic and literary sources to make the rings' contexts come alive with paintings, drawings, and vivid quotations. 479 full-color photographs and illustrations

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Diana Scarisbrick is an art historian specializing in the history of engraved gems and jewelry and the author of many books, including Rings: Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty and Portrait Jewels: Opulence and Intimacy from the Medici to the Romanovs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (October 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500513643
• ISBN-13: 978-0500513644
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #465,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, October 18, 2008

By 

Meryl Osse (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rings: Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty (Hardcover)

For anyone who has a reverence and appreciation of finger rings, this is an amazing book. It is packed full of colour illustrations and lots of text. As a bench jewler, this is my favorite Diana Scarisbrick book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, October 4, 2009

By 

J. Kloss (California, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rings: Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty (Hardcover)

I LOVE THIS BOOK! You will too! Whether you're a jeweler looking for some inspiration, or collect jewelry and are interested in some Ring history, or collect art books in general, this book is fantastic. There are over 400 illustrations and photos, in color with lots of detail, as well as fascinating history about specific jewelry styles and trends. All periods are included; ancient Egypt, Greece & Rome through the middle Ages and Renaissance up to the 20th century. Unlike some of my art books that get lost on my shelf, I go back to this book again and again.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book, but..., December 1, 2010

By 

Steve A. Sosa "Survival Horror Junkie" (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rings: Jewelry of Power, Love and Loyalty (Hardcover)

This is a gorgeously put together book, with beautiful photographs and informative text on heavy paper. In my opinion, there are far too many ancient, pre-19th century, and/or religious rings , and not enough rings from the 20th century -except for the religious rings, of course, which are not at all what I'm interested in. There was no way to tell about this in advance without the Amazon preview feature available for this title. If you're looking for a lovely treatise on the evolution of rings from ancient times to the 20th century -with heavy emphasis on religious rings (granted, religious institutions have historically been a haven for the less food/defense oriented achievements of man, jewelry among them...), then this absolutely the tome to get. If you're looking for good coverage of non-religious early to mid 20th century rings (in particular I was hoping for far better coverage of art deco rings) or for jewelry design ideas in any but the broadest historical sense, you may want to look elsewhere. Personally, I'm returning mine and getting something better suited to my interests.