Stud Button thumbnail 1
Stud Button thumbnail 2
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

Stud Button

1800-1870 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The brooch was the most important piece of jewellery in Norwegian traditional dress. There are well over 50 different names for brooches in Norwegian. Buttons and rings complemented the brooches. They are often decorated with leaf (løv) pendants, which flicker and glitter when worn. These can be very long and elaborate, looking like silver lace.

Men and women throughout Norway wore collar buttons, called halsknapper, to keep the neck of their shirt closed. A single stud button was called a stolpe- or stetteknapp, and was often decorated with a long fancy pendant. In the Gudbrandsdal valley, in central Norway, these pendants were called dingsel. Stud buttons for the collar are commonest in the north of Norway.

The elaborate filigree pendant on this dingsilknapp stud button is typical of those worn in Gudbrandsdal.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver filigree
Brief description
Silver filigree collar stud (dingsilknapp) with long filigree pendants, Gudbrandsdal (Norway), 1800-1870.
Physical description
Stud button with plain circular back and the face covered with filigree rings and coil rings. In the centre of the face there is a loop from which hangs a long pendant, opening out into three chains of complex filigree motifs.
Dimensions
  • Width: 5.0cm
  • Length: 14.9cm
  • Depth: 2.4cm
Summary
The brooch was the most important piece of jewellery in Norwegian traditional dress. There are well over 50 different names for brooches in Norwegian. Buttons and rings complemented the brooches. They are often decorated with leaf (løv) pendants, which flicker and glitter when worn. These can be very long and elaborate, looking like silver lace.

Men and women throughout Norway wore collar buttons, called halsknapper, to keep the neck of their shirt closed. A single stud button was called a stolpe- or stetteknapp, and was often decorated with a long fancy pendant. In the Gudbrandsdal valley, in central Norway, these pendants were called dingsel. Stud buttons for the collar are commonest in the north of Norway.

The elaborate filigree pendant on this dingsilknapp stud button is typical of those worn in Gudbrandsdal.
Bibliographic reference
Collection
Accession number
656-1872

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Record createdJuly 6, 2007
Record URL
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