Mastery of Design: A Pair of English Shoe Buckles, 19th C.

Shoe and Knee Buckles
England, early 19th C.
The Victoria & Albert Museum

An Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Century gentleman would have felt positively naked without his buckles. Buckles were worn at the knees as a way of securing knee breeches and often, matching buckles were worn on the shoes. While some of these buckles were made of carved, pierced and chased metals, some were set with stones. Only the most extravagant examples were set with real diamonds or precious stones. Most glittered with paste. 

This set of shoe and knee buckles is crafted of silver and set with pastes in steel prongs. They were made in England in the early Nineteenth Century.