Rosette button

In the Gothic period, silver ornaments in the form of rosettes, badges or openwork buttons sewn on clothes became particularly attractive. Iconographic sources teach us that buttons could also be used to fasten clothes, e.g., sleeves. It stemmed from the spread of the fashion for clothes clinging to the body in the 14th century. Together with metal belt elements and silver Pomeranian coins, such items were discovered in 1999 in Szczecin, in the so-called treasure from Podzamcze. A set of buttons stands out, including one six-petalled rosette with traces of chiselling, among the ornaments. The technique consists in artistic finishing metal objects using unique chisel points, files, chisels and goldsmith's hammers. Buttons, sometimes called lumps, are ornaments rarely discovered in late medieval cultural layers during excavations. It is probably related to the rapid fashion changes and replacing unfashionable buttons, brooches and buckles with new ones.

Małgorzata Peszko