Brooches and Badges (Accessories; Victoria and Albert Museum)

An engaging overview of the changing styles and uses of brooches and badges from the Middle Ages to today From medieval pilgrim badges and Renaissance hat decorations to jewelled brooches and twentieth-century political pins, brooches and badges are often more than practical or decorative dress fasteners; they are expressions of identity. Focusing on the V&A’s world-famous collection, Brooches and Badges explores the evolution of these intricate and versatile works of art, and the way in which changes in dress have dictated their use.

Contents List

Introduction • 1. ‘Send…letters, tokens, brooches, and ranges’ 1000–1500 • 2. ‘Rich Apparell, precious Jewells’ 1500–1800 • 3. ‘Any number of brooches, up and down and everywhere’ 1800–1900 • 4. ‘The new jewel has been born’ 1900–1920 • 5. ‘Clips are going like wildfire’ 1920–1940 • 6. ‘Almost anything goes’ 1940–1960 • 7. ‘Precious stones have won their freedom’ 1960-1990 • 8. ‘The shock of beauty’ 1990–The Present • References; Glossary; Further Reading; Notes; Major Collections Featuring Brooches and Badges Acknowledgments; Author’s Biography; Index

About the Author

Rachel Church is a Curator in the Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum with a special responsibility for the rings collection. She has published and lectured on jewelry and worked on the re-display of the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery. She has contributed to a number of V&A publications, including writing on gold boxes in The Gilbert Collection at the V&A (2009).