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Category Archives: 17th and 18th Century Culture
Teatime
Regular readers of this blog would be familiar with the furniture, silver and porcelain associated with serving and partaking of tea during the seventeenth-, eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries, but many may not be aware of the fervor behind the fashionable drink. … Continue reading
Please, Come In
The entrance halls of some of the great English houses of the affluent could oft be places of unbridled conviviality, or conversely, dens of apprehension, abasement, and even injury. In a time when an Englishman’s home was his castle, uninvited … Continue reading
Posted in 17th and 18th Century Culture, Antiques, colouring and polishing
Tagged brick dust, hall chair
10 Comments
Sawpit Perils
If you were a sawyer in the late eighteenth-century, you might not have begun your day’s work as early as other craftsmen and labourers, for the sawpit could, on occasion, be a hazardous place at the break of day. Duellists, … Continue reading
John Head’s Account Book
Following on from yesterday’s post concerning a bureau made by the English emigrant, John Head, the American Philosophical Society digitized Head’s account book and has today, made it available to all and sundry. The American Philosophical Society has also published an … Continue reading
Happy Birthday Thomas Chippendale.
Born in Otley in the West Riding of Yorkshire in England on the 5th of June 1718, Thomas Chippendale Senior became Britain’s most iconic – some would say pre-eminent – cabinetmaker and decorator. Christie’s tribute. Jack plane.
In Pursuit of Pleasure: The Polite and Impolite World of Georgian Entertainment
Fairfax House, York, 29 July – 31 December 2016. From exotica to erotica, In Pursuit of Pleasure opens a window onto the outrageous and sometimes shocking behaviour of ‘polite society’—conducted in the name of entertainment. Fairfax House’s major summer exhibition … Continue reading
Posted in 17th and 18th Century Culture, Antiques, Exhibitions
Tagged decadence, dildo, pleasure, York
1 Comment
A Nation of Tea-Drinkers
Markman Ellis introduces his talk for the Immigrants of Spitalfields Festival – ‘A Tea-Drinking Nation: How Britain Came to Identify with a Migrant Alien in the Early Eighteenth Century’ on Monday 20th June 3pm, Hanbury Hall, Hanbury St, E1 6QR. … Continue reading
Posted in 17th and 18th Century Culture, Distractions
Tagged banyan, Britain, China, East India Company, porcelain, Spitalfields, tea, tea-drinking, teawares, trade card
5 Comments
Impoliteness
I mentioned how the Georgians relished their lavatorial humour in At your Convenience. Below is a post about the early eighteenth-century London Farting Club. The risk is entirely yours. Georgians had numerous clubs. One of the more ridiculous clubs was … Continue reading
Posted in 17th and 18th Century Culture, Distractions
5 Comments
Samuel Pepys Exhibition at the National Maritime Museum
As a reliable and valuable late seventeenth-century resource, I have quoted or cited Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) many times on this blog. The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich is currently running an exhibition, Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution from the 20th … Continue reading
Posted in 17th and 18th Century Culture, Exhibitions
Tagged Samuel Pepys, The National Maritime Museum
3 Comments
Huguenot Influence at Boughton House
I have written before about the impact Huguenot refugees had on English furniture and other arts from the end of the seventeenth-century. Bendor Grosvenor posted an interesting piece about Boughton House on his blog yesterday, The Huguenots at ‘Britain’s Versailles’. … Continue reading
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