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Details
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]
Provenance
Ex 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.
Literature
See The Portable Antiquities Scheme, record id WAW-6DF783, for a similar purse bar dated c. 1450-1550.
Footnotes
Metal 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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