Key plate

Central Europe, probably 18th century

Malleable iron wrought plate presenting the figure of a trumpeting armour-bearer. Pierced opening for the key. Decorated with grooving.

H: 13 cm

UMP 3315

Purchased from collector A. Dillinger of Vienna in 1886.

Key plates punched from thin sheet into the form of a Landsknecht are characteristic of German locksmithing from the mid-seventeenth century. The artistic and technical craftsmanship required to make the escutcheon (engraving, repoussé and chasing) and especially to form the figurative motif reflects the period of the Thirty Years’ War in Central Europe. Vocational training at locksmith and blacksmith schools in the nineteenth century included producing replicas of Late Renaissance and Baroque key plates.