The tradition of using expensive marriage belts of archaic design survived with women’s traditional costume in many parts of Nordic and German-speaking Europe until the 19th century. These belts were usually based on the kind worn by the aristocracy in late medieval and renaissance times.

The velvet facing on this belt, and the metallic lace trim along its edges, is typical of traditional marriage belts from the Nordic region. The circular clasp, with two hooks on the back which fasten into corresponding rectangular loops at the ends of the terminals, is a feature which is specific to Icelandic belts. By the 19th century the rectangular cast plaques, and the classical allusions on them, had been largely replaced by filigree, but the design of the clasp remained the same.

The maker’s marks show that this belt was made in Copenhagen around 1745, by a member of the Copenhagen Goldsmiths’ guild who was born in Iceland. Iceland was too small to provide a fulltime living for silversmiths before the 19th century, and most of those working on the island in previous centuries underwent their apprenticeship abroad, often in Copenhagen. Many stayed abroad after achieving their mastership, but retained close links with their homeland, as this belt shows. It must have been made for an Icelandic client, from the design of the clasp.