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title

Theodora (?) Button

 
Accession number AR.EP.BN.0547
Measurements
1.5 x 1.5 inches
Materials/Techniques
metal
Work types
button

Description

EXHIBITION

Imagining the Empress: Theodora in Popular Culture, 1882-1922
April-October 2017

Decorative buttons became popular fashion accessories and collectors' items in the late nineteenth century. Many buttons depicted celebrities and famous historical figures. This button captures the dignity and grandeur of Byzantium through the visage of an empress, possibly the sixth-century Theodora, who became popular in the late nineteenth century through Victorien Sardou’s play, Théodora. The empress on the button appears to wear a crown fashioned after the principal dome of the Constantinopolitan church, Hagia Sophia.

Collection

Ephemera Collection
 

Repository

Dumbarton Oaks Archives, 058.FFM.03
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC
Accession number AR.EP.BN.0547
Measurements
1.5 x 1.5 inches
Materials/Techniques
metal
Work types
button

Index Terms

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