16th-century Keys: Detail from the Setúbal Altarpiece, Jorge Afonso's workshop, 1520-1530 AD

The long, slender, iron keys would have been used for external, or fairly substantial internal, doors with so-called tumbler locks, the purpose of the indented edges of the wards (projecting pieces) being to raise corresponding pins inside the lock itself. The long shaft with a point projecting beyond the ward, and kidney-shaped or diamond-shaped handle, are typical of the period. The detail is from the panel with the Assumption of the Virgin depicting one of St Peter's attributes.

© 1998 Oxfordshire Museum Service, Setúbal Museums and the Benaki Museum