Piece from an early to mid-19th century silver biaude clasp

This is half of a silver clasp which would have been used to close fine men’s blouses, called biaudes, which were often indigo-dyed and worn for special occasions, notably weddings.

The tradition of closing the necks of shirts with precious clasps is very old - pieces with similar functions have been found in Iron Age or Viking burial mounds or Roman settlements. This one has a design of a stylised floral cornucopia. At the top is a thick ring, which would have originally had a finer chain attached - the missing half would have been the same design but with a clasp at the top instead of the ring. Both halves would have been stitched to either side of the shirt collar using the rings at the back. The ring on this half has two little silver stamps on it, called poinçon in French - and this is pure silver. It measures 4.8cm wide and 4.3cm high. It would make a beautiful pendant

Please click on the photos to open them up full-sized.

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