---
node: garment_zibellino
type: garment
slug: zibellino
title: "Zibellino"
lead: "The zibellino is a luxury accessory of Renaissance Italy: a whole marten or sable pelt, often with a jewelled head and paws, carried or worn draped over the arm. It was a costly emblem of status, nicknamed a flea fur."
published: 2026-08-09
updated: 2026-08-09
image_file: zibellino.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alonso_S%C3%A1nchez_Coello,_Detail_Flohpelz.jpg"
image_author: "Juan Pantoja de la Cruz"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Overview

A zibellino is a complete sable or marten skin, dressed and mounted, sometimes fitted with a goldsmith's head of enamel and gems and jewelled feet. Held in the hand or hung from a chain or girdle, it served no practical purpose beyond conspicuous display of wealth.

## How it is worn

It is carried draped over the arm or suspended at the waist and appears in many grand portraits of noblewomen. A folk belief that the fur drew away fleas and vermin gave rise to its nickname, though its real function was ornament and status.

## History

The jewelled zibellino was at the height of fashion among wealthy women in sixteenth-century Italy and spread to courts across Europe. Sumptuary concerns and changing taste ended the vogue, and it survives now mainly in the portraits that recorded it.