Button, silver filigree, Cordoba, 1865-1870

Silver buttons were an important element of traditional dress in Spain. Unlike in most other European countries, women were just as likely to wear them as men. Both sexes wore them in extravagant quantities, along the seams of jackets and trousers and in bunches at the wrist, as well as to fasten clothes. They were rarely sewn directly on to the clothing.

In Spain, buttons usually had toggle fittings, consisting of a bar permanently attached to the button by an oval loop. They were used to fasten the clothing in the same way that cuff-links are still used today. Tiny buttons like these were primarily used for decoration on women’s clothes, inserted along the seams of the dress or sometimes on the cloth itself to accentuate the pattern. These were described as from Cordoba, when they were bought for the museum by Senor Riano for seven pence (the pair) in Cordoba in 1871. Silver spherical toggle button of open filigree, with wire bar with central loop soldered on, and oval link. There is a loop at the front of the button, from which hangs a small cast silver-gilt pendant.