Belt clasp
Belt Clasp
1800-1880 (made)
1800-1880 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Throughout the lands of the former Ottoman Empire, from the north Balkans to the Caucasus, large and elaborate waist clasps were the most important item in a woman’s dowry. These clasps come in a small number of basic shapes including stylised tulips as here. The women who owned them sewed them onto cloth belts which they made themselves, usually richly embroidered.
This clasp is set with pieces of grooved coral, known as ‘finger nails’, which are typical of the work of Saphrampolis, in northern Anatolia. They were traded throughout the Balkans, and were highly esteemed. Although the clasp appears to be made of gilded silver it is in fact copper, thickly plated first with silver, and then gold. This technique was very common in the Balkans in the 19th century.
This clasp is set with pieces of grooved coral, known as ‘finger nails’, which are typical of the work of Saphrampolis, in northern Anatolia. They were traded throughout the Balkans, and were highly esteemed. Although the clasp appears to be made of gilded silver it is in fact copper, thickly plated first with silver, and then gold. This technique was very common in the Balkans in the 19th century.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Belt clasp |
| Materials and techniques | Silver-gilt over copper filigree set with striated corals |
| Brief description | Filigree clasp made of silver-gilt over copper set with striated corals, with five pendants, Balkans or Safranbolu (Saphrampolis), Turkey, c.1800-1880. |
| Physical description | Two-part filigree clasp of silver-gilt over copper set with coral. Each half is shaped as a circle with a pointed extension on its outer edge. One half has a sideways hook on its inner edge, and the other a corresponding loop covered by a disc. There are two loops on the lower edge of each part, and one on the lower edge of the disc over the loop, each of which holds three chains ending in flat drop-shaped pendants with inner spaces containing two red glass beads threaded on a wire. The front of each part is decorated with applied rosettes and striated corals in closed mounts. The extreme end of the left hand part is missing. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | Bought from the collection of Gaston de Saint-Maurice (1831-1905) in 1884. Saint-Maurice displayed his extensive art collection at the 1878 Paris exhibition, in a gallery entitled L'Egypte des Khalifes. This was part of an official sequence of displays celebrating the history of Egypt, presented by the Egyptian state at this international event. Saint-Maurice held a position at the Khedival court, and had lived in Cairo in 1868-1878. Following the exhibition, Saint-Maurice offered his collection for sale to the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A). |
| Subject depicted | |
| Associations | |
| Summary | Throughout the lands of the former Ottoman Empire, from the north Balkans to the Caucasus, large and elaborate waist clasps were the most important item in a woman’s dowry. These clasps come in a small number of basic shapes including stylised tulips as here. The women who owned them sewed them onto cloth belts which they made themselves, usually richly embroidered. This clasp is set with pieces of grooved coral, known as ‘finger nails’, which are typical of the work of Saphrampolis, in northern Anatolia. They were traded throughout the Balkans, and were highly esteemed. Although the clasp appears to be made of gilded silver it is in fact copper, thickly plated first with silver, and then gold. This technique was very common in the Balkans in the 19th century. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 952-1884 |
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| Record created | April 4, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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