That a provocative symbol of immutable love should make a stunning wedding band is no surprise. But when that symbol is Cartier’s Love bracelet — the piece that initiated the French luxury jewelry house’s most popular and recognizable collection — it renders a wedding ring that is wholly steeped in history and symbolism.

The Love wedding band is a minimal band of polished gold, with engravings that reference the faux screwheads that adorn the legendary bracelet. Aldo Cipullo (1942–84), the Italian-born American jewelry designer behind the collection, cited the chastity belts of medieval lore as an inspiration. He prized the role of function in good design, and following a particularly stinging breakup, Cipullo was searching for symbols of permanent love. The Cartier Love bracelet, whose two halves could initially only be secured or removed by an accompanying gold vermeil screwdriver, was intended to be worn by one lover while his or her partner guarded the screwdriver. This subversive yet sentimental piece was conceived in Cartier’s New York mansion, instead of the maison’s Paris studio, in 1969, and in the decades since its conception, the bangle has become an incomparable international phenomenon.

The Love collection now includes earrings, necklaces, watches, cufflinks and rings. Given its rich history, the Love wedding band is truly like no other Cartier wedding ring. When the house introduced the accessory, the Cartier Love wedding band was a simple 18-karat yellow-gold band, as unembellished as the bracelet that inspired it, but subsequent versions were inlaid with diamonds and sapphires. Whether simple and elegant or luxurious and extravagant, the Love wedding band truly symbolizes enduring love in the singular and provocative way that its maker intended.