Button Up

“When buttons came in, about 1650, people couldn't get enough of them and arrayed them in decorative profusion on the backs and collars and sleeves of coats, where they didn't actually do anything. One relic of this is the short row of pointless buttons that are still placed on the underside of jacket sleeves near the cuff. These have been purely decorative and have never had a purpose, yet 350 years later on we continue to attach them as if they are the most earnest necessity.”
~Bill Bryson

I like to consider the artistry of items that don't seem particularly artistic. Like buttons.

Jasperware button, front & back

Satsuma iris button (self-shanked), showing front and back

Hand-painted Sewing Button
by Fiona MacNeil

Fitted doublet, associated with Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, 1594–1632

Buttons, Russia, 1908-1917. Faberge. Lapis lazuli, diamonds, gold, silver, glass, enamel.

Buttons
by Lisa Clarke

Once a handkerchief
storebukkebruse

Pink Silk Nouveau button ring
allison fomich

Wilhelmina von Hallwyl wedding dress