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Button

Button

  • Place of origin:

    Iceland (made)

  • Date:

    1700-1850 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Repousse silver, gilded on the front

  • Museum number:

    722-1888

  • Gallery location:

    Jewellery, room 91 mezzanine, case 69, shelf B, box 12

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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.

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.

Place of Origin

Iceland (made)

Date

1700-1850 (made)

Artist/maker

Unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Repousse silver, gilded on the front

Dimensions

Diameter: 5.7 cm, Depth: 3.5 cm

Descriptive line

Drum-shaped silver button with gilded image of the crucifixion on the front, Iceland, 18th-19th century.

Production Note

Worn by women

Materials

Silver; Silver-gilt

Techniques

Repoussé; Appliqué

Categories

Metalwork; Jewellery

Collection code

MET

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Qr_O136688
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