Handgreep, ovaal en getordeerd met twee lissen van een kist c. 1590 - 1596

This iron handle, likely made in the Netherlands, was once part of a chest. The maker, whose name is now lost to us, would have heated a length of iron in a forge, then hammered and twisted it into shape on an anvil. The form is simple: an oval, with two tangs that would have been hammered into the chest. But look closely, and you see the marks of the maker's hand. The irregular surface of the iron, the slight variations in the twist, all speak to the labor involved. While we don't know who made this handle, we can imagine him at work: a skilled artisan, transforming raw material into something useful and beautiful. Ironwork like this was essential to everyday life, from tools to weapons to humble hardware like this. The maker would have been part of a larger economy, connected to the mines that produced the iron and the merchants who traded it. Appreciating the way things are made helps us to understand the lives of the people who made them, and the world they inhabited.