Hairpin

Art Historical Context

This delicate bronze hairpin, crafted by an unknown Frankish artisan in the 7th, offers a glimpse into the everyday elegance of early medieval Europe. Measuring just under 5 inches long and remarkably slender at 3/16 by 1/16 inches, it was likely used by women to secure elaborate hairstyles, a common practice among the Franks—a Germanic people who dominated much of what is now France and Germany during the Merovingian dynasty Now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Medieval Art department it entered the collection as a gift from J Pierpont Morgan in 1917. Frankish metalwork like this h...