GIS Talk - "Objects of ‘virtue’? Eighteenth-century women and their precious snuffboxes"

Cycle of talks - Luxe et sociabilité : l’univers des petits objets au siècle des Lumières

in parallel with the exhibition Luxe de poche - Petits objets précieux au siècle des Lumières (March 28-September 29 2024)

Thursday September 26, 2024 (6:00-7:15 pm)

Angela McShane (University of Warwick): Objects of ‘virtue’? Eighteenth-century women and their precious snuffboxes. TALK IN ENGLISH

Abstract : When we think of 'objets de vertu' we imagine articles of beauty and adornment that were intended to be admired and also to be used for practical purposes. But the value of such objects did not always rest in sparkling gems or gorgeous materials that spoke of the world outside and a taste for the exotic other. In this talk, we consider what can be discerned when we look inside the boxes that nestled among the possessions in an eighteenth-century woman’s pocket. There we find social aspiration, a sense of personal identity, of safety and solace, and deep emotion. Moreover, these were not always objects of virtue: the luxurious boxes in women's pockets brought with them the risk of shame and disrepute and facilitated beautifying yet corrupting practices. Indeed, to highlight the many contradictions they contained, we will begin with a shocking murder...

Dr Angela McShane is Honorary Reader in History at the University of Warwick. She was formerly head of the postgraduate programme in History of Design and Material Culture, jointly run by the Research Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal College of Art. She has published widely on aspects of the social history of design and material culture including an essay on 'Bad Habits and Female Agency: Attending to Early Modern Women in the Material History of Intoxication' in Challenging Women’s Agency and Activism in Early Modernity (AUP, 2021) and is the co-editor of Marking Time: Objects People and their Lives 1500-1800 (YUP, 2020) and Cultures of Intoxication (P&P, 2014).

Practical information:

Salle des conférences
Musée Cognacq-Jay
8, rue Elzévir 75003 Paris  

Free entrance. Register to attend in person, contact: gis.sociabilites@gmail.com 

ZOOM link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89340481962?pwd=gVuwxRXIvclHAnlamut9Oy7vXcehqo.1

To register for the thematic guided tour of the exhibition at 5:15 pm, contact:  reservation.cognacqjay@paris.fr