Silver jewellery from Rådved

Abstract

Silver jewellery from Rådved

On top of the coins in the jug of the hoard were found 23 small pieces of silver ornaments to sew on clothes, most of them decorated hooks and eyes (fig. 1-5). This kind of silver-foil jewellery is wellknown from other medieval Danish treasures, where coins are nearly always in a majority.

In the holes of the eagle ornament (fig. 1) were remnants of the linen thread with which it had been stitched to a linen patch (3 x 4,5 cm) left by the owner, when he hurriedly concealed the treasure. It gives us a sample of the material of his (or her) shirt. 14th Century bronze statues of Queen Eufemia and her small daughter in Sorø church show dresses studded with silver jewellery and in long rows probably hooks and eyes (fig. 6). Another possible use of the ornamented hooks and eyes may be a breast-arrangement in the visible part of the shirt.

As this jewellery is found all over Scandinavia together with Hanseatic coins it has been proposed that also the simple silver-foil ornaments derived from North­German towns. But as they were not difficult to copy they might easily be of Danish workmanship as well.

Among the ornaments is an escutcheon with a chevron (fig. 5). This is a very common type and as the custom for the lower nobility and peasants to wear jewellery with coats-of-arms on their clothes has not yet been sufficiently investigated, it is not possible from the escutcheon to discover who was the owner of the treasure.

Fritze Lindahl