17th century silver buttons. Two 17th century buttons and a ...

Hammer

£40

17th century silver buttons. Two 17th century buttons and a 19th century silver cufflink. 16mm diameter. The use of 'crowned, conjoined and pierced hearts, have a long history' (Lewis: 2013), but the increasing frequency in which it is found on 17th-century cuff-links and buttons has led to a particular association with the marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza in 1662, the occasion of which may have led to a revival in fashion of this particular style of motif which continued to be used to represent marital fidelity until the early 1700s.  Lewis argues that the design may have held royalist or catholic connotations and probably went out of fashion by 1714.