In antiquity needles were especially used for the hair, the garment or sewing, but also for make-up, tattooing or in medicine. Most of them were made of bone. Otherwise, materials like wood, ivory, bronze, silver, gold and jet were common. Sewing needles normally have a not decorated, flat or circular pinhead with one or more eyes. Hairpins and cloakpins are often decorated with ornaments or figures. The costlier designed hairpins of our collection were probably used to fix topknots, pigtails, wigs or ribbons in the hair. The more simply versions were presumably used for complex pinned-up hairstyles.

(M.Sch.)