Roman Key Ring with Inscription

Roman Key Ring with Inscription

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Surviving images of rings and their wearers offer a window into the personal values and beliefs of premodern peoples. Here, finger rings are paired with portraits in which rings play a prominent role in the imagery of personal identity. By considering who wore rings and why, we develop an appreciation of the meanings attached to these objects and the many contexts in which they appear from antiquity through the early modern period.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Roman Key Ring with InscriptionRoman Key Ring with InscriptionRoman Key Ring with InscriptionRoman Key Ring with InscriptionRoman Key Ring with Inscription

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.