Button

Silver buttons were an important element of traditional dress throughout Europe in the 19th century. Most were worn by men, but in a few places women also wore them. Women's buttons tend to be larger and more decorative than those worn by men. They were mainly worn along the sleeves of the outer jacket, from the cuff to the elbow.

Spherical buttons are the oldest type in Europe, and the pattern of buttons like these, imitating applied filigree decoration, probably dates back to the Middle Ages. By the 19th century this design survived only in the extreme north, in Scandinavia and Russia. These buttons come from Harjager district in Skåne, in the south of Sweden, where they were worn by women on their sleeves. The Gothic monogram pendant represents the initial letters of the Latin prayer to the Virgin 'Ave Maria'. Although Sweden became Protestant in 1527, Swedish women continued to wear Catholic motifs and symbols on their traditional jewellery, like their medieval predecessors.

This button has the maker's mark 'EH'. It was probably made by Erik Holmberg, who was a silversmith in Lund at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century.