North German, first quarter 17th century

each composed of gold links, the rectangular spade-flange clasps with champlevé enamelled coats of arms of the von Dewitz and the von Zepplin families, and the initials W.V.D and C.V.Z

Saemy Rosenberg
thence by descent to the present owner

In good general condition. Minor to moderate denting to the links; surface wear and scratching throughout. The links appear to be hollow with a small perforation visible upon close inspection. Soiling to the links throughout which may be cleaned. The enamelwork is largely intact with some minor areas of loss to the scrolling foliage. One clasp is missing its pin mechanism; the pin serves to open the clasp and also serves as a safety. The bracelet that is missing the pin may be opened by inserting a similarly shaped metal implement such as a safety pin, but repair is recommended. Referral for repair available upon request.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

RELATED LITERATURE

J. B. Rietstap, Armorial Général..., Lyon, 1950, vol. i, p. 533 and vol.II, p. 1141
Parker Lesley, Renaissance Jewelry and Jeweled Objects. From the Melvin Gutman Collection, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1968, no. 60, pp. 168-169
Princely Magnificence. Court Jewels of the Renaissance, 1500-1630, (exh. cat.), October 15, 1980 - February 1, 1981, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, no. 125k, pp. 92 and 93
Daniel Hess and Dagmar Hirschfelder, Renaissance. Baroque. Enlightenment. Art and culture from the 16th to 18th Century, Germanisches National Museum, Nuremberg, 2010, vol. III, pp. 157 and 394, fig. 121

The survival and condition of this pair of armorial bracelets is remarkable. Gold linked bracelets embellished with enamel were worn by European nobility throughout the Renaissance and early Baroque periods. They were most often used in pairs, by both women and men, following the tradition begun in the ancient world. This pair of armorial bracelets was created for a member of two old North German noble families, the von Dewitz of Mecklenburg and Pomerania and the von Zeppelin of Mecklenburg, the first of which held high governmental, court, and military offices in Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, and Denmark.
Pomerania, an area in modern day Germany and Poland, was originally a land in northeast Germany which stretched along the Baltic Sea, west from Mecklenburg and east to Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland). There was constant dispute over the territory and it was partitioned and reunited multiple times through its long history. The Thirty Years' War led to the division of Pomerania between Brandenburg-Prussia to the East, which was then under the rule of the Brandenburg Electors (Prussia), and Sweden to the West.
German ancestral records refer to a noble gentleman named Hennig Budde from Neetzow (Reetzow) who married Katharina von Dewitz, to whom their daughter Margarethe Budde was born before 1567. Margarethe later married Bernhard von Zepplin around 1600. The present bracelets were likely to have been commissioned from a goldsmith to celebrate the marriage of Margarethe and Burnhard as well as the union of these two aristocratic families. During the occasion of the wedding itself , prominent members of the families would have hailed the union for its consolidation of wealth, the forming of political alliances and the maintaining of family lines by providing heirs.
A very similar pair of bracelets appears in a portrait by Michael Conrad Hirt, circa 1638, later court painter to the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick William, in the Dayton Art Museum, Ohio (fig. 1). The subject was a daughter of Deiterich von Brömse of Lübeck, grand-nephew of Mayor Nicholas Brömse, who had received an imperial patent of nobility for himself and his family in 1532. 
Related bracelets, now in the Germanisches National Museum, Nuremberg, form part of the Holtzendorf treasure from Pinnow in Brandenburg. They comprise the same spade-flange clasps and have two enameled coats of arms and initials in black enamel; one is dated 1612. A related pair, dated 1632 and ascribed to Saxony, was in the Gutman collection of Renaissance jewelry (see Lesley, op. cit.). As Pomerania’s political and dynastic links were with Saxony and North Germany, the sources of its indigenous luxury goods were probably Dresden and Hamburg.
Similar to the German tradition of producing matching jewels, patrician husbands in the Italian Renaissance courts would purchase clothes, jewels and textiles for his new wife and would often refurnish his suite of rooms in the family palace. Among the most significant items commissioned would be a pair of richly decorated marriage chests, or cassoni, that would not only include armorial devices but also scenes of family life and prominent battles.