A GOLD BUTTON

細節
A GOLD BUTTON

The openwork compressed spherical button engraved with semi-circular ornament, with suspension loop and beaded base, circa 1600, 1.3cm.diam., 2.7 grams

During the Renaissance buttons were widely worn by both men and women as decorative or practical accessories. Approximately eleven hundred of such buttons covering thirteen different types were found aboard the wreck of the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (sank 1638). Many were of intricate gold filigree thought to have been made by Chinese goldsmiths working in Manila. Cf. Chadour, op.cit., p.332 etc.