Button
1780-1800 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Cut steel was a fashionable material for jewellery, buttons, buckles, sword hilts and watch chains in the decades around 1800. They were made from brightly polished rivets, their ends faceted to imitate diamonds. Such pieces gave a grey but powerful glitter. Originally an English speciality, the production of cut steel had spread to other centres in Europe by the early 19th century. The Birmingham manufacturer Matthew Boulton pioneered the attractive combination of cut steel with the blue and white jasperware plaques made by Wedgwood.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Cut steel set with a jasperware plaque |
| Brief description | Button, cut steel frame, set with a jasper plaque showing the signs of the Zodiac, made in England, about 1780-1800 |
| Physical description | Button, cut steel frame, set with a jasper plaque, showing the signs of the Zodiac. The plaque made in the factory of Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95), the setting possibly by Matthew Boulton (1728-1809). |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Pfungst Reavil Bequest |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Cut steel was a fashionable material for jewellery, buttons, buckles, sword hilts and watch chains in the decades around 1800. They were made from brightly polished rivets, their ends faceted to imitate diamonds. Such pieces gave a grey but powerful glitter. Originally an English speciality, the production of cut steel had spread to other centres in Europe by the early 19th century. The Birmingham manufacturer Matthew Boulton pioneered the attractive combination of cut steel with the blue and white jasperware plaques made by Wedgwood. |
| Bibliographic reference | Stemp, Sinty, "Ornamental or Useful: A Cut Steel Chatelaine by Boulton and Wedgwood", The Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, Vol. 17, June 2009, ISSN. 1359124X, p. 10, ill. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.4-1969 |
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| Record created | February 10, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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