Finger Ring with Intaglio Depicting Eros, Roman, 3rd century. Gold and banded stone or glass, 2.5 × 2 cm . Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection, 2013.1105.

For both men and women in the Roman world, jewelry functioned as a visible sign of wealth, social standing,

and gender. Artists of the time created some works in accord with earlier Hellenistic and Etruscan preferences

for the extravagant and conspicuous use of gold. Over time, imperial expansion increased Romans’ access to a variety of valuable materials, leading to a distinctly Roman taste for jewelry incorporating color—typically in the form of gemstones or glass, as seen in this ring.