Book contents
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Small Things
- Part II Small Things in Time and Space
- Part III Small Things at Hand
- 9 “We Bought a Guillotine Neatly Done in Bone”
- 10 “What Number?”
- 11 Two Men’s Leather Letter Cases
- 12 The Aesthetic of Smallness
- 13 “Small Gifts Foster Friendship”
- Part IV Small Things on the Move
- Afterword
- Select Bibliography
- Index
12 - The Aesthetic of Smallness
Chelsea Porcelain Seal Trinkets and Britain’s Global Gaze, 1750–1775
from Part III - Small Things at Hand
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 September 2022
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Reading Small Things
- Part II Small Things in Time and Space
- Part III Small Things at Hand
- 9 “We Bought a Guillotine Neatly Done in Bone”
- 10 “What Number?”
- 11 Two Men’s Leather Letter Cases
- 12 The Aesthetic of Smallness
- 13 “Small Gifts Foster Friendship”
- Part IV Small Things on the Move
- Afterword
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The smallest and least-studied of the Chelsea porcelain manufactory’s wares are seals for watch fobs and étui, first described in an advertisement of 1754 as “Trinkets for Watches (mounted in gold and unmounted) in various shapes.” Rival manufacturers, Charles Gouyn, near St. James’s Square, produced similar pocket-sized toys and trinkets. At less than an inch in height, these miniatures depicted birds, animals, and amatory subjects, alongside figurines reflecting eighteenth-century society and culture. Aesthetically crude in reduction and compression, the figures are distorted, and over time the details covered in glaze and paint are gradually softened through constant caressing or clinking against a metal fob or étui. Many survive with generic intaglio hardstone matrices mounted in precious metal. Over 200 models have been identified—the majority published in G. E. Bryant’s Chelsea Porcelain Toys (1925)—attesting to the importance of consumer culture at mid-century. Novelties intended as gifts or love tokens, they are inherently charming for their smallness, yet their subject matter frequently touches on bigger issues of globalization, empire, colonialism, and race. These themes privilege the elite market for these wares, exposing the passions, pursuits, prejudices, and obsessions of their customers, who literally held the world in their hands.
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- Small Things in the Eighteenth CenturyThe Political and Personal Value of the Miniature, pp. 187 - 203Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022