For this type of link cf. S.Bury, Jewellery Gallery Summary Catalogue (1983) Case 13, Board F, no.11. The fashion for gold chains seems to have originated in Italy during the late 15th Century and spread to France and England, where they appear most frequently in male portraits as symbols of wealth and success or of royal approval. They were also worn in Germany and Flanders, but more often as a female accoutrement as seen in portraits by Lucas Cranach the Elder.