‘Man is a sack of muck girded with silver’: Metal Decoration on Late-medieval Leather Belts and Purses from the Netherlands

Abstract

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM of Antiquities in Leiden recently acquired two collections of late medieval decorated leather (belts, purses, cases) and base-metal mounts (over 1500 individual pieces) excavated in the Netherlands. These decorative patterns, objects, shields, coin imitations and letters, mainly in sheet copper and lead-tin alloy, from the 14th–16th century ad and largely from Zeeland and Dordrecht, are meant to mirror similar mounts in gold and silver. They are the true ‘bling-bling’ of the common man, woman and pet in the later Middle Ages. This article aims to give an insight into the language of the body and changing attitudes towards luxury. The material is compared with collections of this type of finds elsewhere in the Netherlands, the UK, France and Germany, while research into the archaeological, literary and iconographical context of these decorations indicate what the material tells us about what people — quite literally — wanted to express.

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