Byzantine Bronze Engagement Ring 5th- 7th Century AD

A flat section bronze ring with solid band and square bezel, engraved with female/ male profile bust facing each other; 22 mm internal diameter, 4.80 grams, 26mm overall size. Can be worn.Property of a European dealer living in London; acquired on the German art market prior 2000s. Very fine condition.The ring continues the tradition of wearing jewellery commemorating marriage by depicting the married couple, a fashion already current in the late fourth century and one that would continue in Byzantium until the late seventh century.Typically the portraits are generic and not particularly realistic, although often a fashionable hairstyle or jewellery is depicted to show the status of the couple. Source: Toward an Art History of Medieval Rings ? A private collection /c Byzantium and the West: Jewellery in the First Millenium