Ancient Roman Bronze Ring with Engraved Bezel of Cats

In Ancient Roman society, jewellery was an essential accessory, providing the wearer with a public display of their wealth, social status, and identity. Roman jewellery at first followed the trends set by the Etruscans, employing the use of gold and glass beads. As the power and spread of the Roman Empire increased, jewellery designs became increasingly elaborate, utilising the many different materials, techniques, and styles found across the expanding empire, particularly from Greece, Egypt, North Africa, and the Orient. Rings were widely worn by men, women, and children, across the empire, with some rings having a practical use, such as signets, whilst others purely for decoration. Animals were favoured decorative motifs across Roman art, either in association with specific deities or myths, or as popular domestic animals. From the time of the Roman Republic, cats were kept not only as companions, but also as a form of pest control, and they enjoyed many legal protections under Roman law as early as the 1st century AD.