Buttons made by artists are art objects, known to button collectors as "studio buttons" (or simply "studios", from studio craft). Alternatively, they can be the product of low-tech cottage industry or can be mass-produced in high-tech factories. See also: List of raw materials used in button-makingīecause buttons have been manufactured from almost every possible material, both natural and synthetic, and combinations of both, the history of the material composition of buttons reflects the timeline of materials technology.īuttons can be individually crafted by artisans, craftspeople or artists from raw materials or found objects (for example fossils), or a combination of both. military locket buttons were made, containing miniature working compasses. Īlso making use of the storage possibilities of metal buttons, during the World Wars, British and U.S. At least one modern smuggler has tried to use this method. Since at least the seventeenth century, when box-like metal buttons were constructed especially for the purpose, buttons have been one of the items in which drug smugglers have attempted to hide and transport illegal substances. As authentication īuttons are sometimes used as access control for festivals, such as for the La Kermesse Franco-Americaine Festival in Biddeford, Maine. īuttons appeared as a means to close cuffs in the Byzantine Empire and to fasten the necks of Egyptian tunics by no later than the 5th century. A similar mechanism would later feature in early medieval footwear. Leatherwork from the Roman Empire incorporates some of the first buttonholes, with the legionary Loculus (satchel) closed through the insertion of a metallic buckle, or button into a leather slit. It is made of a curved shell and about 5000 years old." Įgypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty left behind ornate wig covers, fabricated through sewing buttons formed of precious metals onto strips of backing material. Ian McNeil (1990) holds that "the button was originally used more as an ornament than as a fastening, the earliest known being found at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley. Some buttons were carved into geometric shapes and had holes pierced into them so that they could be attached to clothing with thread. 2000–1500 BC) and Ancient Rome.īuttons made from seashell were used in the Indus Valley Civilization for ornamental purposes by 2000 BC. 2800–2600 BC), at the Tomb of the Eagles, Scotland (2200-1800 BC), and at Bronze Age sites in China (c. 1650–1675īuttons and button-like objects used as ornaments or seals rather than fasteners have been discovered in the Indus Valley civilization during its Kot Diji phase (c. The Silk Roads online platform provides an inventory of the major cities along these routes and a brief description of their history and importance in the development of the Silk Roads.Spanish button (approx. In this way, over time, many Silk Roads cities attracted scholars, teachers, theologians and philosophers, and thus became great centres for intellectual and cultural exchange forming the building blocks of the development of civilizations throughout history. After travelling for weeks on end across inhospitable deserts and dangerous oceans, cities provided an opportunity for merchants to rest, to sell and buy, and moreover, to meet with other travellers, exchanging not only material goods but also skills, customs, languages and ideas. From Xi’an in China to Bukhara in Uzbekistan, from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to Venice in Italy, cities supplied the ports and markets that punctuated the trade routes and gave them momentum. Cities grew up along the Silk Roads as essential hubs of trade and exchange, here merchants and travellers came to stop and rest their animals and begin the process of trading their goods.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |