Jacket Clasp 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

Jacket Clasp

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.

A well-dressed woman from Skåne wore multiple pairs of silver clasps along the front edges of her outer clothes. Some of these were functional, and hooked into each other. Others were purely ornamental.

Heart-shaped clasps like these were originally worn as cloak clasps, but by the 19th century they had moved to the outer jacket, and were often purely decorative. Clasps decorated with filigree were a speciality of the silversmiths in Lund and Ystad. This pair has a very indistinct town mark, which may be the griffin mark of Ystad. They also have the maker's mark HL. Håkan Lärka was a silversmith who worked in Ystad from 1844 to 1873.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver and filigree, set with pastes
Brief description
Heart-shaped silver jacket clasp decorated with filigree and coloured pastes, Skåne (Sweden), 19th century.
Physical description
Jacket clasp consisting of two heart-shaped parts decorated with a tracery of filigree and set with red and green pastes, with a filigree and paste button in the centre of each.
Dimensions
  • Width: 8.9cm
  • Height: 3.7cm
  • Depth: 0.8cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'HL' (Mark of Håkan Lärka of Ystad. Marked twice on the back of each part, near the hook.)
  • illegible town mark (On the back of each part, near the tip.)
    Translation
    Probably Ystad
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.

A well-dressed woman from Skåne wore multiple pairs of silver clasps along the front edges of her outer clothes. Some of these were functional, and hooked into each other. Others were purely ornamental.

Heart-shaped clasps like these were originally worn as cloak clasps, but by the 19th century they had moved to the outer jacket, and were often purely decorative. Clasps decorated with filigree were a speciality of the silversmiths in Lund and Ystad. This pair has a very indistinct town mark, which may be the griffin mark of Ystad. They also have the maker's mark HL. Håkan Lärka was a silversmith who worked in Ystad from 1844 to 1873.
Collection
Accession number
448-1886

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Record createdJuly 27, 2007
Record URL
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