English: ~~Gold hat badge, made of a thin layer of gold embossed and chased so as to represent a scene with figures in a landscape. At left, a large reclining male figure with a beard, wearing classical armour and greaves, who holds up a shield. Behind him, tents on a rocky crag. At right the striding figure of a young boy in a tunic, originally holding something in each hand, possibly a stone on a sling. The thin gold relief is damaged and now only comprises the lower two thirds of the object, pierced and broken in several places and with most of its upper background missing. There are traces of white enamel on the large male figure's face and legs, and on the face and tunic of the young man. There are also patches of red enamel on the large male figure's armour, and a tiny patch of green enamel in the foreground right and centre below. The back reveals the method by which the scene on the front was embossed and worked from behind by the goldsmith. Three clips in gold suggest how the back we now see was originally covered by a backplate which would also have had a circular ring to frame the composition and four rings to sew the badge to a hat.
This is a hat badge made for a man to sew onto his black felt beret, and would seem to date from around 1530-40. It may not be English in make but represents a highly fashionable and expensive jewel worn by a noble or wealthy individual. The subject would seem to be David and the giant Goliath, whom he wounded with a stone thrown from his sling. Old Testament or obviously Protestant New Testament subjects were favoured for hat badges particularly in England, as demonstrated by a badge in the British Museum with Christ and the Woman of Samaria with English biblical inscription in black enamel and a black enamelled frame with sewing loops and similarly coloured enamel, [1983,1102.1]. Another badge in the Wallace Collection shows Judith with her handmaiden putting the head of Holofernes into a sack, which shows similar use of red, white and green enamel as this badge. That has a frame with sewing loops projecting from it, [For both see Yvonne Hackenbroch, Enseignes, Florence 1996, figs. 324 and 330; Dora Thornton, A Rothschild Renaissance, British Museum Press, forthcoming]. Both have similar clips visible on their reverses and the British Museum example shows how the missing backplate would have filled in the missing elements in the composition on this example as a background, perhaps stippled to catch the light. The British Museum also holds designs for Old Testament subjects for hatbadges by Hans Holbein the Younger which offer good comparisons for this one. Of the three hatbadges listed in the inventory of Henry VIII the third was biblical in subject: "a brouche of gold enamelled sett with a Rock Rubie and a table diamounte with three mean and a woman with a Scripture over the Rubie". David Starkey, ed., The inventory of King Henry VIII, Society of Antiquaries MS 129 and British Library MS Harley 1419, 1, The Transcript, London 1998, nos.3262, 3264 and 3.

Dora Thornton
Curator, British Museum

References:
Hackenbroch, Y (1996), Enseignes: Renaissance Hat Jewels. Florence
David Starkey, ed., The inventory of King Henry VIII, Society of Antiquaries MS 129
MS Harley (1998) 1419, 1, The Transcript, London