“Fragile Splendour: Prestige, Power And Politics From The Medici To The Present Day”
Haughton International Lecture Series The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH on Wednesday, 29th and Thursday, 30th June 2022
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.
Diplomatic Gifts in Gold
Dr Timothy Schroder, Dlitt, FSA. Former curator
Gifts have always been an integral part of diplomacy and were presented by sovereigns to visiting ambassadors as a complement to his royal master and as a means of sweetening the passage of a treaty. The commonest fate of those in gold or silver was to be melted down and turned into cash, but occasionally they have survived, although sometimes transformed into something else and inscribed with a record of the original gift. The favoured form of these gifts changed over time. In the sixteenth century it was common to present a departing ambassador with a gold chain; in the seventeenth the gift would often take the form of a cup, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth the snuff box was the favoured form. But in whatever form, they are a striking reminder of the importance of the ambassadorial role at a time when historic and binding decisions had to be taken without any possibility of the ambassador referring back to his government for new instructions.
The Art of War, the Arts of Peace: patronage and production of luxury crafts for the samurai
Gregory Irvine, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Research Department, V&A
Twelfth century Japan was riven by civil war but in 1185 the samurai warlord Minamoto Yoritomo defeated his rivals and established his military government at Kamakura. In 1192 Yoritomo was appointed Shōgun by the Emperor Go-Toba, thereby beginning nearly 700 years of military rule of Japan.
By 1615 the Tokugawa clan had unified warring Japan and art and culture flourished under their shōgunate. They formed courts where leisurely accomplishments such as calligraphy were deemed appropriate, and they adopted courtly rituals and styles of clothing far removed from their military past.
The peaceful Edo period (1615-1868) saw developments in the production of porcelain, lacquer, metalwork, and textiles which found a ready market amongst the samurai elite who had become significant patrons. It also created an environment in which the merchant classes prospered, and they would increasingly become the new patrons of the arts.
The lecture will look at the exquisite objects created for these patrons.
Augustus the Strong and the "red porcelain" from Saxony
Dr. Julia Weber, Director of the Porzellansammlung, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Even a century after its invention, the so-called Böttger stoneware was still referred to as the first Saxon porcelain. For contemporaries, it was far more than a particularly fine red stoneware that offered entirely new possibilities for refinement due to the density and hardness of its body and thus could advance to become luxury goods of the first rank. Born out of the royal art of alchemy, the new material was associated with ideas of mercantilist success and political ambitions, which explain why Augustus the Strong held on to Böttger stoneware even after his sensational white porcelain had long since won the favour of buyers.
The lecture will begin by looking at collections of Böttger stoneware in the 18th century to find out why this specific material was valued and how it was classified in different contexts. Special attention will be paid to the promotion of "red porcelain" by Augustus the Strong, which will be traced on the basis of individual pieces and partly new archival sources.
The Art of Giving: Diplomacy at the Bourbon Court
Dr Helen Jacobsen, Executive Director of the Attingham Trust
Diplomatic gifts have always played a central role in international relations, despite – or perhaps because of - the ambiguity between gift and bribe. Hand-in-hand with France’s rise as a centre of fashion and supremacy in the decorative arts came an added reliance on luxury goods such as tapestries, carpets, gold boxes and porcelain as part of the diplomatic language. It was, however, a very structured language and many misunderstandings have arisen since - after all, who doesn’t love a good royal provenance? This talk will look at some of the beautiful works that were gifted and the context in which they were presented, hoping to shine a light into the highly prescribed world of diplomatic etiquette.
The Medici and maiolica in the time of the Florentine Republic
Professor Timothy Wilson
The period covered by this talk covers the golden age of Renaissance art and culture in Florence, from the rise to political dominance of the Medici family in the person of Cosimo "il vecchio" in 1434 to the appointment of Alessandro de' Medici as first Duke of Florence in 1532. Successive members of the Medici family, notably Lorenzo "il magnifico" were personally interested in ceramics. The most brilliant factory associated with the Medici was at their villa of Cafaggiolo, north of Florence; while the town of Montelupo, on the Arno, became one of the most productive of all commercial maiolica centres.
Attributes of Splendour: jewels and the projection of power in Royal India
Dr Amin Jaffer
Whether an emperor portrayed in a Mughal miniature or a maharaja depicting in a Victorian studio photograph, rulers in India were typically characterised by the abundance of jewels they wore. The proliferation of precious stones was not only a reflection of wealth – and therefore authority – but also an evocation of the cosmic power of certain gemstones by virtue of their association with planetary forces. In a survey of Indian kingship from ancient times to the early modern period, Amin Jaffer will explore the importance attributed to gems in the articulation of power, drawing on ancient treatises about the power of precious stones, court memoirs and contemporary accounts.
Face to Face: Dame Rosalind Savill in conversation with Brian Haughton
Brian Haughton was already a successful dealer when in 1982 he launched the International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, and today we celebrate his achievement over forty years. He would transform the world of the ceramics dealer, collector, curator and scholar by bringing together in one place each June a new, radical and magical combination of some of the best dealers in the world, strict vetting procedures, academic lectures given by an international range of experts, and a sense of glamour, fun and camaraderie. This conversation will explore how Brian developed such a special vision, how he and his wife, Anna, delivered it year after year, what impact it has had on the decorative arts in recent generations, and how they organised annually four international Art & Antique Fairs in New York, one in Dubai & Art Antiques London.
Polishing the Crown – The Influence of Artists and Scholars on Royal Berlin Porcelain Orders
Dr. Samuel Wittwer, director of Palaces and Collections at the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg
In the representation of the Prussian monarchs Berlin porcelain played quite a role. Since the foundation of KPM in 1763 vases and other decorative objects were displayed in significant places at the royal palaces to help in proclaiming the king’s glory. On the table, services had to convince guests of the royal taste and widely observed state gifts to other courts served as ambassadors of power – in a highly sophisticated atmosphere of nuances. What a perfect trap for a king to make a fool of himself, if these porcelains turned out to be slightly off-key and missing the intended allusion! But who were the advisers to preserve the crown from ridiculousness? And how were they involved? The lecture shows some outstanding examples and the story of their genesis.
Thomas Jefferson at Monticello: Prestige, Power and the “Peculiar Institution” of Slavery
Leslie Greene Bowman, President, Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Leslie Greene Bowman will discuss Thomas Jefferson’s commitment to the arts as central to his advancement of a fledgling United States, and as a means by which he advanced power and prestige while relying upon and yet deploring the “peculiar institution” of slavery. Bowman will excerpt images and ideas from a book she has just produced with Rizzoli, entitled Thomas Jefferson at Monticello: Architecture, Landscape, Collections, Books, Food, Wine.
For Sultans, Grand Dukes and German princes: Chinese Porcelain as Diplomatic Gift
Dr. Eva Stroeber
Silk and Porcelain were the most important diplomatic gifts the Chinese emperor gave to foreign rulers. Silk is long gone; but porcelain, mysterious, beautiful and priceless, is preserved, sometimes documented.
This talk will focus on three case studies of Chinese porcelain as diplomatic gifts, and will explain the specific role porcelain played in the diplomatic and cultural exchange of China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Italy and Dresden in the 15th and 16th century.
Firstly, I will talk about the famous Princessehof dragon vase, made in the reign of the Yongle emperor (1403-1424), found in the Sangir Islands, now Indonesia, made as an diplomatic gift for a probably Muslim ruler on the archipelago and connected with the diplomatic missions, the Seven Sea Voyages of the Chinese admiral Zheng He.
Secondly, I will mention a diplomatic gift of a celadon dish and vase from the Egypt sultan Qai’it Baj to the Medici in 1487, the porcelain with the inscriptions preserved in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence.
Lastly, I will discuss a group of Chinese porcelain given by Ferdinando de Medici to the Saxon court in Dresden in 1590, preserved in the Porcelain Collection, Dresden, and documented in inventories from the 1590.
How Chinese Emperors Used Ceramics to Support their Power and Prestige
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
As the Son of Heaven, emperors employed sacrificial vessels for religious ceremony, demonstrating their divine legitimacy to rule the country. Each year, a major sacrifice conducted by the emperor in person was presented to Heaven, the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, the Temple of Imperial Ancestors, the patron saint of Agriculture and the Guardian Spirits of the State and Harvests. In earlier times gold, silver and bronze vessels were used but in 1369 an imperial order went out ordering that all ceremonial vessels used in the state sacrifices should henceforward be made of porcelain. Fine porcelain items were also used as accoutrements for the throwing of banquets and other power events. Wares for the palace were regulated, with colours and designs for each member of the imperial family listed as to rank. Perhaps most significantly of all, ceramics were a material demonstration of China’s superior technology to the outside world.
Rebuilding a Collection: 20 years of working with palaces, paintings, sculpture, furniture and porcelain
Dr. Johann Kräftner, Director, Liechtenstein, The Princely Collections
For the collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, the events surrounding World War II brought drastic changes. 80 % of the princely assets had been lost through the confiscation of the estates in the Czech Republic and a return of the artworks to Vienna after they had been evacuated to Vaduz was out of the question.
It was necessary to ensure the family’s financial survival through the sale of works of art. Only after the now reigning Prince Hans-Adam II had achieved to reorganise the financial basis in the 1970s, it was possible to stop selling works of art and to make a new start.
The first major sign of life was the exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1985/86. A second significant step was taken with the restoration of the summer palace in the Rossau quarter and the opening of the Liechtenstein Museum in 2004, followed by the restoration of the city palace in the centre of Vienna, both now presenting substantial parts of the Princely Collections.
At the same time, the fundamental reorganisation of the collections was carried out. This was accompanied by sales of less important collection items and a targeted acquisition policy spanning the last three decades, which raised the collections to a new level.
Prestige despite Disfavour : the Prince de Condé & Chantilly porcelain
Dr Mathieu Deldicque, Curator, Musée Condé, Château de Chantilly
A grandson of Louis XIV through his mother, great-grandson of the Grand Condé through his father, Louis-Henri Prince of Condé, generally known the Duke of Bourbon, was one of the great patrons of the first half of the 18th century in France. He had a prominent political career that culminated with the position of prime minister under Louis XV. He fell into disgrace in 1726 and went into exile at his property at Chantilly. There, he took refuge in modernizing his chateau and creating a porcelain manufactory that could be admired among Europe. He was a formidable collector of decorative arts and very fond of Asian porcelains. Around 1730, he added the services of a potter from Saint-Cloud, Cicaire Cirou, to create a soft-paste porcelain manufactory at Chantilly: inspired by Japanese ceramics, it became one of the most important porcelain manufactory in France, until the creation of the Sèvres’ one.
This lecture will aim to study the context of development of Chantilly porcelain and the international competition it produced. Because behind this charming production hides politics and the race for prestige.
Jewellery, politics and national identity: Princess Alexandra and her wedding gifts
Judy Rudoe, Curator, British Museum
Princess Alexandra of Denmark married the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in March 1863. The gifts of jewellery that flooded in from across the UK and Denmark were widely publicised, displayed to huge crowds at the South Kensington Museum (later the V&A), and recorded in a lavish illustrated volume of 1864. This talk examines the role of some of these jewels as national symbols, linked to the immense political changes across Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. Among them are the 'Old Norse' recreations of spectacular archaeological discoveries given to her from Denmark, the ‘Etruscan lady’s’ jewel casket by Castellani from British noblemen in Rome, and the Egyptian-style ‘Thebes’jewels from the Prince of Wales incorporating ancient trophies brought back from his 1862 visit.