Cycles of Life: Rings from the Benjamin Zucker Family Collection; Sandra Hindman, with Beatriz Chadour-Sampson, Reine Hadjadj, Jack Ogden and Diana Scarisbrick; With an essay by Benjamin Zucker; Paul Holberton Publishing, London; 258 pages, color illustrations; ISBN 9780991517237; $50.00

Cycles of Life: Rings from the Benjamin Zucker Family Collection by jewelry historian Sandra Hindman, celebrates 40 years of collecting by gem dealer Benjamin Zucker. The book is the third in a series of jewelry art history by Hindman published for Les Enluminures, a gallery specializing in manuscripts, miniatures, and jewelry from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Hindman has organized a selection of rings from the Zucker collection, much of which had been on loan to the Walters Art Museum since 1985, according to the talismanic, symbolic and commemorative roles rings have played at birth, marriage, death, in everyday life, and even as a symbol of eternity. These are the sections into which the book is divided. Continue reading →