Detail of a Prayer nut.

British Museum - Waddesdon Collection
On our visits to the British Museum we often find ourselves drawn to this amazing collection bequeathed by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild . We are both keen collectors but this is collecting of a different order .!!
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 Wiki - 'These include "prayer nuts" of superb quality from around 1510 to 1530. These are small wooden "balls" which open up to reveal carvings of religious scenes that fit dozens of tiny figures into a space two or three inches across, and were a fashion among royalty and the wealthy; they were apparently made in the northern Netherlands. They seem to have often been suspended from belts, or formed part of a rosary; others still have copper carrying cases. A trick of technique in making them is that the main carved scene is made on a smaller hemisphere, allowing access from behind, which was then set into the main hemisphere.[' -

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