Button thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Jewellery, Rooms 91 to 93 mezzanine, The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery

Button

1700-1850 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Lapland and Iceland are the most remote areas of north-west Europe. Their traditional jewellery retains many medieval characteristics lost elsewhere.

Women in Iceland wore large buttons of this kind, typically in sets of three, to hold their decorative aprons in place at the waistband. Many were round or hemispherical, but shallow, drum-shaped buttons like this one are typically and uniquely Icelandic.

This button is hollow, and made from sheet silver. It has a gilded picture of the crucifixion on the front, surrounded by crowns and scrolls of imitation filigree. It looks medieval, but probably dates from the 18th or early 19th century.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Repousse silver, gilded on the front
Brief description
Drum-shaped silver button with gilded image of the crucifixion on the front, Iceland, 18th-19th century.
Physical description
Large hollow drum-shaped button with gilded front. On the front an image of the crucifixion, with the Virgin and another saint (Mary Magdalene?) on either side of the cross, within a border of imitation filigree scrolls and four stylised crowns. A large loop shank on the back.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 5.7cm
  • Depth: 3.5cm
Production
Worn by women
Subject depicted
Summary
Lapland and Iceland are the most remote areas of north-west Europe. Their traditional jewellery retains many medieval characteristics lost elsewhere.

Women in Iceland wore large buttons of this kind, typically in sets of three, to hold their decorative aprons in place at the waistband. Many were round or hemispherical, but shallow, drum-shaped buttons like this one are typically and uniquely Icelandic.

This button is hollow, and made from sheet silver. It has a gilded picture of the crucifixion on the front, surrounded by crowns and scrolls of imitation filigree. It looks medieval, but probably dates from the 18th or early 19th century.
Collection
Accession number
722-1888

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Record createdJune 29, 2007
Record URL
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