Spanish Baldric Lapis Braided Bracelet*The Met Store Online

Art jewelry inspired by The Met collection.

This rich blue lapis-and-enamel bracelet is inspired by a spectacular Spanish baldric (first half 17th century), a type of crossbody belt or chain often worn to support a sword. Much of the scholarship around jewelry fashions throughout history is informed by portraits in which the sitters wear a certain style of adornment. An enameled example very much like the one displayed in The Met’s Vélez Blanco Patio, dedicated to the decorative arts of Spain between 1450 and 1700, is worn diagonally across the chest in an early 17th-century portrait of a young man.

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