Portrait of Jan Gerritsz van Egmond van de Nijenburg, Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (workshop of), after 1507
This sitter was a member of a prominent Dutch family. He served as bailiff and burgomaster of Alkmaar. In his right hand he holds a prayer nut encased in silver or gold, an extremely costly object for private devotion. He used it to demonstrate his piety, but also, and primarily, his affluence.