Traditional skill of making rings: Persian handicraft

Metalworking has been practiced in the Iranian plateau since ages, with traditional ring making going through the most changes over time.

Despite various opinions regarding the history of wearing rings in Iran, what is certain is that the habit of wearing rings belongs to ancient times.

According to Visit Iran, the official travel guide to the country, Egyptians were the first nation to make rings, but Iranian legends say the first human who created a ring and wore it was Jamshid, the fourth Shah of the Pishdadian dynasty of Persia.

Clearly, religion has gradually influenced the designs of jewelry making. For instance, pre-Islamic era, the rings were decorated with symbolic signs, but during the Islamic era wearing rings gain religious usage, too, because it is an Islamic tradition and there are many hadith that encouraged it. That is why from the Islamic era the designs of the rings changed into religious motifs.

Today, rings with diverse designs are created, some of the most important of which include latticed, Fili, Safavid, Shirazi, or Zanjani designs. Each of them is embellished with many motifs and many different names.

A traditional jewelry-making workshop can only make a few numbers of rings per day and that is why most of the rings are unique and limited.

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