“The Secrets Of The Bedroom & The Boudoir”
Haughton International Lecture Series The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH on Thursday, 14th and Friday, 15th October 2021
We would like to thank B. Michael Andressen for his generous donation for this year's lecture programme in memory of his beloved partner for over 30 years Dr. Alfred Ziffer; author, formerly curator of the Bauml Collection, curator of several important exhibitions and editor of Keramos . He was a dedicated supporter of Haughton International Seminars.
Caroline of Ansbach: Fashion and Style
Dr. Joanna Marschner, Senior Curator, Historic Royal Palaces
Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737), the wife of King George II, enjoyed variously the titles Princess of Wales, Queen Consort, Electress of Hanover, and Regent. Educated at the culturally ambitious courts in Berlin and Hanover, she arrived in London in 1714, in the wake of the Hanoverian Succession, determined to play her part in embedding the new regime. As commissioner, patron and promoter she would engage with artists, architects and musicians, scientists, philosophers and theologians, as well as the leading politicians of the day. Sir Robert Walpole claimed: ‘ madam, without you I can do nothing …. ‘. How did a woman of power and influence construct her image in the early eighteenth century? How were Caroline’s sartorial choices informed by political agenda? How did her involvement with the medical world shape her attitudes to dress, make-up and hygiene?
Wedgwood in the Empress’s Bedroom – Success or Failure?
Robin Emmerson, Author and Curator. Previously Curator of Decorative Arts, National Museums, Liverpool
The bedroom of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia in her Summer Palace of Tsarskoe Selo was decorated with specially commissioned tablets of Wedgwood jasper. The room was destroyed in the Second World War and is now known only from photographs. A close reading of correspondence in the V&A/Wedgwood Archive reveals that the Empress’s architect Charles Cameron initially ordered more and larger jasper tablets than were finally installed. Wedgwood struggled with the order, making the largest jasper tablets he would ever make, but Cameron lost patience and reduced the size and number of tablets in the order to enable Wedgwood to deliver them without further delay. Wedgwood’s largest jasper tablets, made for the Empress, were therefore not sent to St Petersburg and destroyed with the rest of the bedroom. Instead they survive in the Lady Lever Art Gallery near Liverpool, and in Houston, Texas.
Throwing the Stocking - posset pots and their role in bridal bedchamber divination rituals
Ivan Day, Food Historian, Museums and Country House Consultant
The starting points for this talk is the 1740 drawing Wedding Night by Marcellus Laroon (image) and an anonymous poem The Progress of Matrimony (London: 1733) - both refer to the custom of bedding the bride. Posset and posset pots were a major feature.
What Every Chinese Lady Wanted
Rose Kerr, Honorary Associate of the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, Previously Keeper of the Far Eastern Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum, where she worked from 1978-2003
In traditional China, well-born women lived quite separate lives to men. They occupied quarters in the rear of the house and were closely supervised outside its walls. Their secluded existence was pampered and opulent, they dressed themselves well, and surrounded themselves with luxury products. Based on the shapes and function of pieces, and on their decoration, it is possible to single out products manufactured specifically for women. This lecture will concentrate on two periods in China’s long history: the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It will discuss porcelain, jade, bronze, lacquer and fine silk garments.
Royal splendour behind the scenes: the State bedchamber and it’s function in the Dresden Residence
Christiane Ernek-van der Goes M.A. Art Historian, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden/Kunstgewerbemuseum
On the occasion of the royal wedding in 1719, Augustus the Strong (1670-1733) commissioned the reconstruction of the State Apartment in the Dresden Residence castle. Since these were the rooms where the representation of power, rank and future aspirations took place, only the best of the best was good enough. Besides splendid textiles and extended mirror-glasses, Boulle-marquetry furniture were considered appropriate for this effort. The State bedroom, though not being part of the official ceremony, was planned generously and with extremely rich furnishings. Only a few months after the installation, the original interior decoration of the State apartment was visually documented by Raymond Leplat. Although the drawings were meant to illustrate the festivities, they enable us moreover to explore the interiors in astonishing detail. The talk will give insight into the history of the Dresden State apartment - especially the State bedchamber – spanning from the construction in 1718/1719 until the still ongoing reconstruction. Special focus will be on the lavish interior decoration and its role in staging the representation of rank and power of Augustus the Strong.
A life without pugs is possible but pointless – dogs at court life
Dr Katharina Hantschmann, Senior Curator, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich
Dogs, bigger or smaller, are to be found on many portraits of the past centuries, both on representative ones of important personalities like rulers as also on more private paintings and portraits of children. Dogs might therefore symbolize fidelity, alertness, power and strength, but also show part of the real life. At court dogs were close friends and faithful companions not only for the hunt, but were to be found everywhere and any time, even in the bedrooms and the boudoirs. There they have always been the involuntary witnesses of human flirtation or the beloved consoler and substitute. The lecture will look closely on Meissen porcelain groups where dogs often indicate the erotic component of the scene. Especially pugs, the favourite lapdogs of the 18th century, sometimes behaved jealously and aggressively at their human competitors. The demand for porcelain pugs increased after the foundation of the secret humanistic Order of the Pug.
Royal Bedchambers in Versailles: more than a bedroom, the heart of the kingdom
Bertrand Rondot, Conservateur en chef, Mobilier et objets d'art, Château de Versailles
At the heart of the château of Versailles stands the King’s Bedchamber, a political statement as much as a room to be lived in. In the complex but short history of the royal residence ending in October 1789, the organization of the royal bedchambers has remained a key issue through the reigns of the three kings, Louis, Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI. The creation of bedrooms for the king reflects the evolution of the Court and of the French Monarchy, from the Grand Siècle to the Age of Enlightenment. Within the central part of the palace different rooms were allocated for the king’s sleep - from the very public one in the state apartments in the tradition of the French Monarchy to the most personal one in his private apartments. But the creation of such spaces, reflecting both the official and intimate lives of the king, was far from simple in a palace whose architecture was the result of compromise, invaded everyday by thousands of courtiers and visitors.
The Royal bedchamber in Restoration England 1660-1680
Dr. Simon Thurley, CBE, Leading Historian, Curator and Heritage Expert
When Charles II returned to London in 1660 amongst his first acts was to rebuild the bedchambers in his royal palaces on a French model. It is normally assumed that these were the first French-style bedchambers in England, but both Henrietta Maria and Oliver Cromwell seem to have had French bedchambers before him. What was new about the Restoration royal bedchamber was not so much its form (although there were innovations here) but how it was used. Simon Thurley looks at the primary evidence to show how the Restoration brought a new focus on royal bedrooms in function, architecture and decoration.
Dîners à Deux: Intimate Dinners with Casanova
Meredith Chilton, C.M. Curator Emerita, Gardiner Museum, Toronto
Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) is now best known as a womanizer and a libertine, but his History of My Life also reveals he is an acute and vital witness of daily life in the 1700s. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Casanova records details of the meals he ate, and even talks about the rituals of dining. This lecture will focus on the intimate dinners for two that Casanova savoured in Venice with his lover “M.M.” It will include a look at the food and wines they relished, the private apartments where these meals were served, and the ceramics and silver on the table… along with a few comments on the aphrodisiacs that enhanced the lovers’ pleasure.
The Indian Boudoir : private or public space?
Philippa Vaughan, Art Historian, Writer & Archaeologist. Former Director of The Royal Asiatic Society and Trustee of The Calcutta Tercentenary Trust
The European idea of boudoir and its architectural setting, originally associated particularly with the private apartments of the chatelaine in grand houses, carries connotations of personal privacy. By contrast in India privacy is understood more in terms of inner space and the individual is rarely alone physically, even for the most intimate acts such as sex or grief. In Muslim courts the harem was a large community of women of the royal family of all generations, with extensive households of ladies in waiting as well as servants, many of whom shared the same space in one way or another most of the time. This paper will explore the “boudoir” aspects of women’s social life and the environment in which it was enjoyed.
Mystery, Magnificence or Allure? Lighting in the historic bedchamber
Lisa White, MA, FSA, Furniture Historian and Lecturer. Former Director Attingham Summer School. Former Chairman of the National Trust Arts Advisory Panel 2010-16
Creating sufficient light for the night time bedchamber in the ages before electricity was challenging, expensive and often dangerous. This talk will develop knowledge about the materials used, their hierarchy, location and the results they produced. In particular, the talk will focus on the impact of artificial light on the design, decoration and destination of furnishing for the bedchamber, from textiles for the bed to lacquer and japanning. Magnificence will be contrasted with modesty, with a discussion of lighting for significant stage sets such as Lying-In and Lying in State.
The perfumed atmosphere of a lady’s chamber: Vincennes and Sèvres porcelain for use in the Bedroom and The boudoir
Professor Dame Rosalind Savill, DBE, FBA, FSA, Director of The Wallace Collection, 1992 – 2011
The ingenuity of the Vincennes/Sèvres factory to provide a variety of porcelain items for personal use in the private apartments of eighteenth-century France was boundless. This talk will consider the models developed for washing, hygiene and health, for cosmetics and grooming, and for heating and serving the light meals consumed during the ritual of the toilette, or while confined to bed. The factory also created shapes to enhance the ambiance of these small and busy spaces, from perfume burners and pot-pourri vases, to plaques for work tables and writing desks, as well as pieces for the pastimes and social occasions with friends that were part of daily life in these intimate rooms.
The royal Tudor bedroom: ‘scraps from the cutting room floor'
Dr Timothy Schroder, Dlitt FSA. Former curator, LA County Museum and Somerset House, London
The king's bedroom in the early modern period was more than a place for sleeping. It was the scene of a wide range of royal activities, from eating and drinking to the ceremonies surrounding new year’s gifts and the reception of ambassadors. This talk will spin a narrative from some of the many anecdotal descriptions of court life gleaned from the voluminous pages of the State Papers of the reign of Henry VIII.
From Fryars knots to festoon hangers: The art of the trimmings-maker in the creation of the state bed
Annabel Westman, FSA, Director Emeritus, The Attingham Trust, Textile Historian and Consultant
Exorbitant sums were once spent on fringes, tassels and braid in the creation of a grand bed. A mere 7¼ yards of elaborate fringe cost nearly £440 (at least £65,000 today) on Queen Catherine of Braganza’s bed at Windsor Castle in 1678 and, in 1786 when trimmings were more delicate, the state bed at Audley End had about £165 worth of applied decoration (minimum of £21,000 today). Based on archival research and original examples from the 1670s to the 1780s, this talk will discuss their extensive use through a series of case studies, which demonstrate the significance and status of this iconic object. The intricate designs of many of the items will be explored and their interplay with rich fabrics that together formed such a visual feast to the eye.