Old Ottoman Silver Chatelaine. A chatelaine can be either the lady of the castle, with her clutch of important keys at her waist, on a series of short chains attached to her belt, or the attachment itself, from which hang the chains. And then, there is the ornamental pendant such as the above, made to hang along with the keys, which also runs by the name “chatelaine”.
These ornamental chatelaines come in infinite variety; they were common in many localities throughout the world, wherever multi-doored residencies were created, and the design was what the local metal smith supposed could be afforded by, and would meet the approval of, the particular patron.