The Power of Love

Romance, love and courtship are as universal as the precious jewels they inspire, objects which express deep affection for a loved one and eternal commitment. Wedding traditions have evolved over thousands of years and are based on blessing the couple with good luck and good wishes for unity, happiness and prosperity. The ring is the most personal of all jewels, its endless circular form symbolising the everlasting union of two people.

The tradition of giving a betrothal or wedding ring as a promise of marriage goes back to ancient Rome and the ring was believed to have a direct link to the heart when worn on the ring finger of the left hand. It was not until the 15th century that diamond rings were primarily associated with marriage, but from the earliest times rubies or garnets were emblems of passionate love, diamonds or rock crystals symbolised virtue and constancy, sapphires denoted eternal love and emeralds desire and hope.

Decorative motifs such as clasped hands, lovers’ knots, crowned hearts, Cupid’s arrows, flowers with hidden messages, snakes and butterflies were imaginatively used by jewellers to create magnificent jewels as symbols of romantic love.

About the Author

Based in England, Beatriz Chadour-Sampson is an international jewellery historian, author and lecturer. Her publications range from the classical world to the present day and include her doctoral thesis on the Italian goldsmith Antonio Gentili da Faenza (1980) and catalogues for the jewellery collection of the Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Cologne (1985) and for the Alice and Louis Koch Collection of rings, Switzerland (1994), the latter in her capacity as curator of the collection for the Swiss National Museum, Zurich. She was consultant curator for the redesign of the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and guest curator of its Pearls exhibition in 2013-14. For the Dallas Museum of Art she has worked on the Inge Asenbaum collection of contemporary jewellery.