shirt studs in India

[Allen W Thrasher]

Dear Fran,

I think I've seen the chains both inside and outside.  Also, sometimes instead of a stud showing on the shirtfront, there is a cluster of small chains on each buttonhole in addition to the larger chain holding them together.  There are as you say holes on both the inner and outer placket of the shirt, just as on a Western man's formal shirt ("black tie" or "white tie").  

According to the Wiki article on " shirt studs" (a stud) maintains that studs used to be worn with day wear as well as with formal evening wear.  (There would also have been the invisible studs holding the detachable collar.)  So presumably in the 19th c. Indians adopting English dress would have used them, and perhaps those adapting Indian and English dress to new styles would have preserved them and then made them more elaborate.

Allen

Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.
Senior Reference Librarian
Team Coordinator
South Asia Team, Asian Division
Library of Congress, Jefferson Building 150
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, DC 20540-4810
tel. 202-707-3732; fax 202-707-1724; athr at loc.gov
The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress.

>>> Frances Pritchett <fp7 at COLUMBIA.EDU> 12/18/2008 8:45:05 AM >>>

Dear Allen,

I've seen these chained-together studs in groups of three or four, for 
specially made kurtas that have at the neck opening several sets of two 
buttonholes, rather than buttons and buttonholes. In the ones I've seen, 
the chains are decorative, and sometimes heavy and ornamented; they go 
outside the kurta, not inside, so that the whole thing is, if made in 
silver or gold, an elegant ornament. (There are cheaper ones in plainer 
metals too.) But I don't know if these are what you have in mind.

all the best for the holidays,
Fran

Allen W Thrasher wrote:
> Struggling with my black tie for the Romila Thapar award ceremony last week, the following question occurred to me.
>
> For special events Indian men will frequently wear silver, gold, or jeweled shirt studs, with a chain inside the shirt keeping them together and safe (very good idea).  In the Indian antique shops I have seen older ones, though I have no way of guessing their dates.  I have never seen the chained ones in Western antique shops.  
>
> Is there any evidence whether the use of studs existed before the British era?  Were they in use in Islamicate societies?
>
> I don't recall seeing them in miniatures.  Usually, of course, the shirts are double-breasted and  fastened at the shoulder.
>
>
> Allen
>
>
> Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.
> Senior Reference Librarian
> Team Coordinator
> South Asia Team, Asian Division
> Library of Congress, Jefferson Building 150
> 101 Independence Ave., S.E.
> Washington, DC 20540-4810
> tel. 202-707-3732; fax 202-707-1724; athr at loc.gov
> The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress.
>
>