2-721-334 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Steel key plate, early 18th century, (1881). Etching of a chiselled steel escutcheon from a casket, made in France. The plate bears a bust portrait of King Louis XIV, in profile, surmounted by a crown and coat of arms flanked by dolphins, with classical figures. The keyhole, at the bottom, can be hidden by a small movable cover. From "The South Kensington Museum", a book of engraved illustrations, with descriptions, of the works of art in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (formerly known as the South Kensington Museum). [Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London, 1881]