Button, France, About 1780

During the eighteenth century buttons were mostly used on men's clothing rather than garments for women. They served both a practical and a decorative purpose on coats, breeches and waistcoats. A diverse range of materials were used to produce buttons including mother-of-pearl, steel, glass, enamel and textiles mounted on card. From the 1770s picture buttons also became popular, first in France where they were known as 'boutons à miniature'. They depicted anything from architectural views to mythological scenes and historical events, from portraits to flora and fauna and even pornographic images. They were printed, painted, engraved or drawn and usually mounted onto copper frames with a flat or slightly domed glass cover. As with most other types of buttons they were usually sold in sets of 12, 16 or 24 to accommodate the needs of gentlemen's attire.

This picture button depicts a woman seated in a landscape near a broken classical column. This type of outdoor scene or pastoral was a popular theme in French decorative arts. It appeared regularly in paintings, tapestries and ceramics of the period. Although this button is one of a set of 11 it is likely that there were originally more buttons in the set, but these were lost before they came into the museum's collection. It was said by the donor that they had been worn by a lady when she escaped from France during the Revolution. We cannot be certain whether this was the case but we do know that other surviving examples of picture buttons were worn by men rather than women.

Painted circular button, glazed and set in a brass back with a small loop in middle; the painted scene depicts a woman seated in a landscape in front of a broken fluted column on a square plinth, also nearby is a square grey jardiniere with a small plant with green foliage and red flowers or berries growing in it; the figure is dressed in a purplish red bodice with long sleeves and a long red skirt, the bodice has a scooped neck with white trim and a red posie in the middle; dark brownish black background.