The country house : material culture and consumption / edited by Jon Stobart and Andrew Hann

Object Details

Contents: Introduction / Jon Stobart -- The country house and cultures of consumption -- Section 1: Elites, consumption and the country house -- 1. Yme Kuiper / The rise of the country house in the Dutch Republic: beyond Johan Huizinga's narrative of Dutch civilisation in the 17th century -- 2. Jane Whittle / The gentry as consumers in early 17th-century England -- 3. Johanna Ilmakunnas / To build according to one's status: a country house in late 18th-century Sweden -- 4. Mark Rothery and Jon Stobart / Geographies of supply: Stoneleigh Abbey and Arbury Hall in the 18th century -- 5. Shelley Garland / The use of French architectural design books in De Grey's choice of style at Wrest Park -- Section 2: Continuity, heritage and the country house -- 6. Hannah Chavasse / Fashion and 'affectionate recollection': material culture at Audley End, 1762-1773 -- 7. Hanneke Ronnes / A sense of heritage: renewal versus preservation in the English and Dutch palaces of William III in the 18th century -- 8. Victor Hugo López Borges / An Anglo-Irish country house in Spain: the Palacio de Castrelos -- Section 3: Eastern connections, adoptions and imitations -- 9. Emile de Bruijn / Consuming East Asia: continuity and change in the development of chinoiserie -- 10. Kate Smith / Imperial objects? Country house interiors in 18th-century Britain -- 11. Patricia F Ferguson / 'Japan China' taste and elite ceramic consumption in 18th-century England: revising the narrative -- 12. Helen Clifford / 'Conquests from North to South': The Dundas property empire. New wealth, constructing status and the role of 'India' goods in the British country house -- Section 4: Country house interiors as lived spaces -- 13. Rosie MacArthur / Settling into the country house: the Hanburys at Kelmarsh Hall -- 14. Susan Jenkins / Fashion and function: the decoration of the library at Kenwood in context -- 15. Karol Mullaney-Dignam / Useless and extravagant? The consumption of music in the Irish country house -- 16. Annie Gray / Broccoli, bunnies and beef: supplying the edible wants of the Victorian country house -- Section 5: Presenting the country house -- 17. Nicola Pickering / Mayer Amschel de Rothschild and Mentmore Towers: displaying 'le goût Rothschild' -- 18. Anna McEvoy / Following in the footsteps of 18th-century tourists: the visitor experience at Stowe over 300 years -- 19. Karen Fielder / X marks the spot: narratives of a lost country house
Summary: This book presents a series of conference papers exploring the material culture of the country house and its presentation to the public. There is an academic interest in the consumption practices of the elite, and in the country house as a lived and living space, which was consciously transformed according to fashion and personal taste; but importantly there is also a concern amongst curators to present a coherent narrative of historic properties and their contents to the modern visitor. The proceeding address a number of current academic debates about elite consumption practices, and the role of landed society as arbiters of taste. By looking at the country house as lived space, many of the papers throw up interesting questions about the accumulation and arrangement of objects; the way in which rooms were used and experienced by both owners and visitors, and how this sense of "living history" can be presented meaningfully to the public.

Data Source: Smithsonian Libraries

Date: 2016

editor: Stobart, Jon 1966-; Hann, Andrew
Author: Historic England

Type: Books; History

Physical description: ix, 214 pages : illustrations (some color), color map, plans (some color) ; 29 cm

Place: England; Europe; Great Britain

Topic: Material culture--History; Country homes--History; Gentry--History; Social life and customs

Record ID: siris_sil_1080272

Usage: CC0