{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O322699"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O322699/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PC8413/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PC8413/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PC8413","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC8411","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC8410","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC8409","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O322699/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O322699","accessionNumber":"M.61:1-1993","objectType":"Buckle and pendant","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This colourful enamel buckle and pendant would have been attached to a long leather or embroidered textile girdle, perhaps fitted with ornamental metal elements. It would have been looped around the waist of a woman or man wearing a long, loose robe, similar in style to those worn by the figures on the pendant. They served to cinch the robe but also provided a fixing point to hang small belongings - in 1304, the inventory of Jean d'Avenes, the Count of Hainault included a girdle described as that which 'Monseigneur usually wore, with his knife, purse and <i>erigot</i> [cockspur used as a toothpick]' \n\nGirdles were important jewels, very frequently given as New Year or wedding gifts. In 1353, Queen Giovanna I of Naples gave a great girdle worked with 'gold, pearls, and precious stones' to a Lombard named Tommaso Banbace Bussoni and in 1375, Duke Philippe le Hardi of Burgundy gave a girdle garnished with balas-rubies, sapphires and other gemstones to his Duchess Marguerite for a New Year's gift. ","physicalDescription":"<b>Buckle:</b> of oval shape with straight sides, cast and chase, hinged with its tang to a long plaque made from two silver plates soldered on top of each other and indented at the end by a trefoil. The upper plate is decorated at the buckle end with chased cross hatching and at the other by a chased and engraved design of interlocking circles. It is pierced to reveal a rectangular area of the lower plate chased with four arches, whose spandrels are reserved in silver-gilt and inlaid with opaque red enamel. Occupying the arches are four creatures arranged in adorsed pairs: two birds and two fantastical drolleries. These are chased and partially covered with translucent enamel; one bird has green wings, the other yellow; one drollery has a yellow chest, the other green. The creatures are set against translucent green enamelled grounds.\r\n\r\n<b>Pendant</b>: comprised of two hinged parts of unequal length, each composed of two silver plates. The shorter part is indented by a trefoil at one end and hinged to the longer part at the other. Its upper surface is decorated with chased cross hatching and a chased and engraved design of interlocking circles. This has been cut away to reveal a rectangle of the lower plate depicting a chased design of a woman standing beneath a trefoil arch, her left hand raised, facing the right. The arch and the woman's hands and head are reserved in silver-gilt against a purple enamelled ground. Her undergown is enamelled translucent yellow, her mantle green.  The  longer section is hinged at the top and terminates in a foliate sprout at the other end. Its upper surface is chased with cross-hatching and cut away to reveal a rectangle of the lower plate. This is divided vertically in half: the upper part chased with a standing man facing the right, the lower with a standing woman turning to the left. The heads and hands of both are reserved in silver-gilt and they stand against a dull purple enamelled ground. Their garments are coloured with translucent enamel: his gown is yellow, hers green. ","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"enamel","id":"AAT14910"}],"techniques":[{"text":"enamelling","id":"x37485"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Cast, chased and engraved silver-gilt and enamel","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Jewellery","id":"THES48930"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2025PC8413","2025PC8411","2025PC8410","2025PC8409"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES407834"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES407834"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Belt Buckle","id":""}],[{"text":"Pendant","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Europe","id":"THES257147"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1350-1400","earliest":"1350-01-01","latest":"1400-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"12.45","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Buckle","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"1.42","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Buckle","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"48.3","unit":"g","qualifier":"Buckle","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"14.29","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Pendant","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"1.47","unit":"cm","qualifier":"Pendant","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"56.8","unit":"g","qualifier":"Pendant","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased from Wartski, London. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Buckle and pendant of a girdle, silver-gilt with translucent and opaque enamel, Southern France or North Italy, 1350-1400","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Christie's London: I<u>mportant European Sculpture and Works of Art</u>, Tuesday 6 July 1993, lot 64."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"New York Metropolitan Museum of Art,<u> The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages</u>, (exhibition catalogue,), New York, 1975, p. 78, no.83"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["M.61:1-1993","M.61:2-1993"],"accessionNumberNum":"61","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1993,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Belt Buckle","Pendant"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-05-21","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}