Brooch thumbnail 1
Not on display

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.

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
  • Depth: 0.9cm
  • Diameter: 9.1cm
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 createdNovember 1, 2005
Record URL
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