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LOT 1997
Medieval Bronze Purse Bar with Niello Inlay
15TH-16TH CENTURY A.D.
6 1/8 in. (70.66 grams, 15.5 cm).
With niello-filled legend to the bar: 'AVE MARIA GACIA PLE' and to reverse 'A DOMINV TE CVM *'; central heater-shaped plaque with niello-filled 'W' to one face and 'IHS' monogram to reverse. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceEx Graham Slater (1924-2024) collection, Cambridge, UK; his collection assembled since the 1980s.
From a Cambridgeshire, UK, private collection.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
See The Portable Antiquities Scheme, record id WAW-6DF783, for a similar purse bar dated c. 1450-1550.
FootnotesMetal purse frames of this type were a luxury personal accessory of late Middle Ages and early Renaissance period (about 1450-1500). They were decorated with niello. In this technique the metalworker engraved a pattern or design onto highly polished metal and filled the incised lines with a hard black alloy. Religious inscriptions were incised to invoke divine protection.
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AUCTIONS:
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