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Clasp
Unknown - Enlarge image
Clasp
- Place of origin:
Norway (made)
Lapland (worn) - Date:
19th century (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Engraved and repoussé silver, gilded on the front
- Museum number:
M.499&A-1911
- Gallery location:
Jewellery, room 91 mezzanine, case 69, shelf B, box 6
Lapland and Iceland are the most remote areas of north-west Europe. Their traditional jewellery retains many medieval characteristics lost elsewhere.
Women throughout the Nordic region usually used clasps to fasten their traditional clothing, not buttons. These clasps vary considerably by region.
This clasp is typical of the jewellery worn by Sami women in Lapland. In the past, the Sami were nomadic herders, moving their flocks of deer seasonally across the extreme north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and parts of Russia. Although many have now settled in villages, they often retain their traditional costume. The women’s costume included a decorative yoke, or collar, which was covered with small pieces of silver jewellery like this clasp.
The leaf shape of the clasp, and its pendant Gothic letters, are typical of Sami jewellery. Gothic letters were widely used in European jewellery in the Middle Ages. By the 19th century they only survived in Lapland, although they were frequently used for fashionable jewellery in the historical revival style.
