Brooch
1750-1800 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The ring brooch was the most important piece of jewellery in Norwegian traditional dress. There are well over 50 different names for brooches in Norwegian, and each kind of brooch has its own distinctive name, some of which date back to the Middle Ages. Ring brooches differ from modern brooches in the way they fasten. The wearer pulls the cloth of the garment through the central hole, and then spears it with the pin. The greater the strain on the pin, the more secure the fastening.
A bolesølje is a large ring brooch decorated with six raised circular mounts. It takes its name from a medieval cylindrical box, called a bole. It is unique to Norway. Brooches like this were always expensive, because of their size and weight. In the 18th century they were usually cast, but by the 19th century most were made of filigree. This bolesølje is one of the earliest of the filigree kind. By the 19th century the back plate was completely hidden by filigree, and the central hole had shrunk to almost nothing.
This kind of filigree bolesølje is typical of Telemark.
A bolesølje is a large ring brooch decorated with six raised circular mounts. It takes its name from a medieval cylindrical box, called a bole. It is unique to Norway. Brooches like this were always expensive, because of their size and weight. In the 18th century they were usually cast, but by the 19th century most were made of filigree. This bolesølje is one of the earliest of the filigree kind. By the 19th century the back plate was completely hidden by filigree, and the central hole had shrunk to almost nothing.
This kind of filigree bolesølje is typical of Telemark.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Silver gilt with filigree |
| Brief description | Silver gilt ring brooch (bolesølje) with filigree decoration, Telemark (Norway), 1750-1800. |
| Physical description | Large ring brooch of flat sheet silver, gilded on the front. It is decorated with six cylinders with open filigree faces, interspersed with smaller filigree domes. There is a ring of stamped domes round the edge of the central space. |
| Dimensions |
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| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | The ring brooch was the most important piece of jewellery in Norwegian traditional dress. There are well over 50 different names for brooches in Norwegian, and each kind of brooch has its own distinctive name, some of which date back to the Middle Ages. Ring brooches differ from modern brooches in the way they fasten. The wearer pulls the cloth of the garment through the central hole, and then spears it with the pin. The greater the strain on the pin, the more secure the fastening. A bolesølje is a large ring brooch decorated with six raised circular mounts. It takes its name from a medieval cylindrical box, called a bole. It is unique to Norway. Brooches like this were always expensive, because of their size and weight. In the 18th century they were usually cast, but by the 19th century most were made of filigree. This bolesølje is one of the earliest of the filigree kind. By the 19th century the back plate was completely hidden by filigree, and the central hole had shrunk to almost nothing. This kind of filigree bolesølje is typical of Telemark. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 373-1907 |
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| Record created | November 1, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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