Dress ornament (heftel)

Date: 18th century, with later alterations

Culture: Hungarian

Medium: Gold, enamel, sapphire, semiprecious stones

Dimensions: Diameter: 5 in. (12.7 cm)

Classification: Metalwork-Gold and Platinum

Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917

Accession Number: 17.190.581

Description

Dress ornaments were the height of fashion for Saxon women in Transylvania. They were originally worn as bodice clasps, but as rich women demanded larger and heavier examples so as to display their wealth, these pieces were also sometimes suspended from a cloth band around the neck. This object is among the few Hungarian goldsmith pieces that the Museum had before the gift of the Salgo Collection.

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