Southern Netherlandish or German, Dinant or Nuremberg, late 15th/ 16th century | Purse

Purses were important in the 15th and 16th centuries since clothing often lacked pockets. The metalwork on this elegant hinged clasp casket recalls the celebrated copper alloy metalwork which first developed in Dinant in the 15th century and for which Nuremberg was famous in the 16th century. Compare to the purse with less elaborate hinged clasp, dated to circa 1501-1600 in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (inv. no. T 4219). Note also the Spanish, circa 1580, silver purse of similar design in the collections of LACMA (inv. no. M.79.18).