Shirt Stud thumbnail 1
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

Shirt Stud

ca. 1850 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Although traditional jewellery was worn throughout Sweden, and has a distinct Swedish character, there are marked differences between the different provinces. Skåne province, in the extreme south of Sweden, has the richest tradition, and more jewellery was worn there than in any other district. Almost all the Swedish traditional jewellery at the V&A comes from Skåne.

Swedish men wore large stud buttons to keep the necks of their shirts snugly closed, and small buttons on their waistcoats. Women did not start wearing silver dress buttons until the 19th century. This stud button has a rounded front, decorated with filigree and coloured pastes. Swedish traditional jewellers made lavish use of coloured glass. It is typical of Skåne work from the 19th century.

It is marked with the griffin mark of Ystad, and the maker's mark HL. Håkan Lärka was a silversmith who specialised in traditional jewellery, who worked in Ystad from 1844 to 1873.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver and filigree, set with pastes
Brief description
Silver shirt stud (stolpknap) decorated with filigree and set with coloured pastes, Skåne (Sweden), 19th century.
Physical description
Shirt stud, consisting of a plain circular back connected to a decorative rounded front of the same size by a short rigid stalk. The front is set with a central red paste, surrounded by five coils of filigree separated by five smaller red and green pastes.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 3.1cm
  • Depth: 2.6cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'HL' (Mark of Håkan Lärka of Ystad stamped twice on the back, in a square formation with the town marks.)
  • griffin in rectangular frame (Town mark of Ystad stamped twice on the back, in a square formation with the maker's marks.)
Historical context
Worn by men.
Summary
Although traditional jewellery was worn throughout Sweden, and has a distinct Swedish character, there are marked differences between the different provinces. Skåne province, in the extreme south of Sweden, has the richest tradition, and more jewellery was worn there than in any other district. Almost all the Swedish traditional jewellery at the V&A comes from Skåne.

Swedish men wore large stud buttons to keep the necks of their shirts snugly closed, and small buttons on their waistcoats. Women did not start wearing silver dress buttons until the 19th century. This stud button has a rounded front, decorated with filigree and coloured pastes. Swedish traditional jewellers made lavish use of coloured glass. It is typical of Skåne work from the 19th century.

It is marked with the griffin mark of Ystad, and the maker's mark HL. Håkan Lärka was a silversmith who specialised in traditional jewellery, who worked in Ystad from 1844 to 1873.
Collection
Accession number
500-1886

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Record createdJuly 27, 2007
Record URL
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