Post Medieval dress hook (FindID 475640)

A cap hook is a decorative hat ornament fashionable from the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

through the

Tudor period The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603 in England and Wales and includes the Elizabethan period during the reign of Elizabeth I until 1603. The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England that began wit ...

, used to pin up or decorate men's hat brims. Cap hooks were made of gold, silver, or silver-gilt

base metal A base metal is a common and inexpensive metal, as opposed to a precious metal such as gold or silver. In numismatics, coins often derived their value from the precious metal content; however, base metals have also been used in coins in the past ...

, and might be decorated with jewels or

enamelling Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by melting, fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitrification, vitreous coating. The wo ...

. Cap hooks could be purely decorative or could carry religious or symbolic meaning. The latter form are called ''enseignes'' and may be an evolution of the medieval

pilgrim badge Pilgrim badges are decorations worn by some of those who undertake a Christian pilgrimage to a place considered holy by the Church. They became very popular among Catholics in the later medieval period. Typically made of lead alloy, they were sold ...

Usage

In the early 16th century, it became fashionable for men to wear multiple small cap hooks alongside a larger hat jewel on the turned-up brims of their hats.

Study and identification

Cap hooks were little studied until the UK Treasure Act of 1996 required the examination and assessment of such small objects when made of precious metals. A seminal cross-disciplinary study of silver-gilt hooks in the Journal of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

in 2002 differentiates cap hooks from other types of

dress hook A dress hook is a decorative clothing accessory of the Middle Ages, medieval and Tudor era, Tudor periods used to fasten outer garments or to drape up skirts. Made of base metal or precious silver and silver-gilt, dress hooks are documented in ...

s. Cap hooks have a hook behind the ornament, where it is invisible in use. This makes distinguishing cap hooks from buttons or other types of ornaments in portraits difficult. Cap hooks are also elusive in written records, possibly because such ornaments were referred to as "buttons" regardless of their method of attachment. File:Post medieval cap hook (FindID 240051).jpg, Silver-gilt rosette cap hook, ca. 1480–1580 File:Post medieval silver gild dress hook. (FindID 442786).jpg, Silver-gilt cap hook in the form of a bird, ca. 1485–1600 File:Post-medieval dress fitting (FindID 547946).jpg, Silver-gilt cap hook, hook now missing, post-Medieval

References

External links

{{commonscat-inline, Cap hooks, lcfirst=yes
Silver gilt cap hook, Leeds Museums and Galleries
*Cap hooks in the British Museum:
Silver gilt cap hook
2006,0301.1
Silver gilt cap hook
2010,8019.1
Silver gilt cap hook
with glass cameo of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

Ammon Ammon ( Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in ...

, 2001,0310.1 Jewellery 15th-century fashion 16th-century fashion Archaeology of the United Kingdom