Head Dress
1815-1867 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This headdress of gold lace topped with a rather faded red pompom was originally worn with a pair of silver-gilt hair pins with ram's head tops. Many traditional costumes must have included ribbons like these, but they very rarely survive. It is easy to forget that ribbons were as valuable as the silver hair pins for their original owners. This headdress of lace and velvet cost £1 12s when it was bought in 1867, while the hairpins were only 18 shillings each.
Hair pins were the sign of a respectable married woman in Italy. They were first worn at the wedding, and after that on feast days and special occasions. Only the unmarried and prostitutes wore their hair loose.
The whole set comes from the Romagna. It was bought as part of the Castellani collection of Italian Peasant Jewellery at the International Exhibition, Paris, 1867.
Hair pins were the sign of a respectable married woman in Italy. They were first worn at the wedding, and after that on feast days and special occasions. Only the unmarried and prostitutes wore their hair loose.
The whole set comes from the Romagna. It was bought as part of the Castellani collection of Italian Peasant Jewellery at the International Exhibition, Paris, 1867.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Gold ribbon and velvet |
| Brief description | Headdress of gold ribbon topped by a red plush pompom, Papal States (Italy), 1815-1867. |
| Physical description | Length of gold ribbon, crossed over in the centre around a cushion of faded red plush velvet. |
| Dimensions |
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| Summary | This headdress of gold lace topped with a rather faded red pompom was originally worn with a pair of silver-gilt hair pins with ram's head tops. Many traditional costumes must have included ribbons like these, but they very rarely survive. It is easy to forget that ribbons were as valuable as the silver hair pins for their original owners. This headdress of lace and velvet cost £1 12s when it was bought in 1867, while the hairpins were only 18 shillings each. Hair pins were the sign of a respectable married woman in Italy. They were first worn at the wedding, and after that on feast days and special occasions. Only the unmarried and prostitutes wore their hair loose. The whole set comes from the Romagna. It was bought as part of the Castellani collection of Italian Peasant Jewellery at the International Exhibition, Paris, 1867. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | 'Italian Jewellery as worn by the Peasants of Italy', Arundel Society, London, 1868, Plate 7 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 347-1868 |
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| Record created | February 8, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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