How to Spend It, the colour supplement that comes with the Financial Times Weekend on Saturdays advertising luxury goods, and the shopping culture experienced today, are little different from that of the Georgian period when shopping became fashionable and pleasurable. With the increasing wealth that Britain enjoyed during the 18th century, London led the way, soon followed by provincial centres such as Bath and York. The latter saw an increase in luxury shops and trades to serve wealthy citizens and the well-heeled gentry of the North.
It is very appropriate that the exhibition Consuming Passions: Luxury Shopping in Georgian Britain should be mounted in Fairfax House, Castlegate, in the centre of York. Purchased by Viscount Fairfax of Gilling Castle in 1760 and intended as a dowry for his daughter Anne, its refurbishment was overseen by the architect John Carr of York. Anne and her father moved into the house in the winter of 1762 and he complained to his London banker that “my Daughter [sic] house, which is just finished and paid for, drains me of all my money”. Many bills and receipts held in the Fairfax Archive for purchases made to furnish the house were the immediate inspiration for this exhibition, and they reveal that members of the Fairfax family were “no strangers to the world of luxury shopping”. In this competitive world of retailing, customers were enticed by elaborate window displays, as seen today at Fortnum and Mason (London). Here in Fairfax House, assembled in a remarkably small space, a sequence of cabinets showcases a wealth of objects which are both fascinating and informative in themselves, and provide an insight into the different types of goods demanded by ‘polite society’ for gracious living. We are encouraged to browse the luxurious consumables which Georgian society had at its disposal. Drawn from over 40 museums and a great many other lenders are the generous loans from the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and some of Britain’s longest operating family businesses such as Floris the Perfumers of London. The spirit of the exhibition is established by the display of a heavily trimmed semi-state household livery which was worn by a footman at the Court of George III (1816), lent from the archive of Henry Poole & Co Ltd. of Savile Row. Such a garment visually denoted the wealth and status of the employer and their appearance with the family at dinner or in public “made them explicit symbols of a family’s position and ability to engage in conspicuous consumption”.
Many different trades are represented and the display of china and porcelain also emphasises the role of travelling salesmen. For example a rare Wedgwood half teapot, made specifically light for transportation and intended to be handled, together with a notebook containing drawn and coloured illustrations with a price list, belonged to the Wedgwood salesman Charles Gill, who brought examples of their wares to the county. Spode sample plate-rims decorated with short sections of a variety of designs contrast with some fine examples of 18th-century Derby china coffee cans which represent the differing tastes in decoration of the period. A fashionable rustic ‘cottage door scene’ with a delicate rococo surround echoes Gainsborough’s paintings and provides a sharp contrast to Zacharia Bloreman’s monochrome picturesque Derbyshire scene set within a classical oval frame. A tea cup, commissioned by Lord Winchelsea and decorated with a topographical view by Bloreman of ‘Burley-on-the Hill Rutlandshire’, shows his Palladian house with Hambleton Church in the background. This illustrates well the luxury of a personalised service afforded to the wealthy.
Under the section heading Sipping Luxury: The Three Hot Liquors it is recorded that the Fairfax family spent on green tea in a period of only four months the equivalent of a half-year’s wages for one of their chambermaids. The cost of tea, and the importance assigned to the part it played in the social life of the time, is shown by a set of three silver tea caddies, six teaspoons, a mote skimmer and pair of sugar nips of 1749, bearing the mark of Eliza Godfrey and engraved with the coat of arms of 4th Baron Kingston and his wife Elizabeth, together with their fitted mahogany case. Black tea was one of the most costly items, as seen from the receipt addressed to W. Moore from Daniel Twining’s shop at the Golden Lion and here represented by an attractively painted opaque white glass caddy labelled ‘Bohea’ (a special type of black tea). Fortnum and Mason, still famous for their teas, have lent a replica of an 18th-century tea brick, made from tea compressed into a mould, in this case decorated with a Chinese scene and text beneath denoting the type of tea. Later it would have been broken down when ready to sell. A beautiful Meissen porcelain chocolate pot (c. 1735), and an extremely elegant silver chocolate pot and stand from 1719 by Joseph Ward, engraved with crest of Ilbert of Ilfracombe, point to the high status of chocolate as a luxury item. A silver kettle on its base, also with the arms of Ilbert of Ilfracombe and by Joseph Ward, is exhibited in the most eye-catching display of silver and gold items. A spectacular loan is the silver-gilt tea caddy from 1747 by Paul de Lamerie, with a delicate rococo decoration of imaginary Chinese scenes, together with a pair of silver sauceboats from 1747, commissioned by Viscount Fairfax from the London silversmith Frederick Kandler (1712-1778). On a small scale is a fine group of snuff boxes, one of gold decorated with a small onyx cameo alongside a hinged example which enabled a fashionable gentleman to open the box with one hand to take a pinch of snuff. A third, of gold-pique tortoiseshell, signed ‘Vachette á Paris’, is oval with a rectangular gold inset of two playful putti in the centre. Close by are a number of elegant engraved trade cards which were an important promotional tool. Richard Morrison, a jeweller and goldsmith in c. 1779, for example, advertises alongside items for sale that “he is willing to purchase ‘old plate’ watches jewels, pearls and colour’d stones”.
An example of the work of the leading London goldsmith Paul Storr is a pair of exquisitely detailed silver-gilt port wine labels from 1810. Decorated with garlands of vines, grapes and reclining bacchanalian figures, they reflect the luxury of port which was heavily taxed. Viscount Fairfax’s bills and receipts document his well-stocked cellar and although he patronised local merchants, quantities of wine were supplied by James Underhill of London. Attention is drawn to a sumptuous pair of wine coasters by Benjamin and James Smith from 1810, decorated with a frieze of Bacchic putti designed by Thomas Stothard and supplied to the second Earl Belmore by the Royal retailers Rundell, Bridge & Rundell.
Booksellers also publicized their stock through lavish, elaborately printed trade cards. For example, Dorothy Mercier, a printseller and stationer at the Golden Ball, London, in c. 1761, depicts herself behind the shop counter and the scene is set within an ornamental rococo border. York had many bookshops in this period and Henry Cave’s watercolour from 1797 illustrates Todd’s Book and Print Warehouse, Stonegate. Reputed to have stocked 50,000 volumes, it is interesting to see that the books are arranged solidly on both sides of a narrow aisle which is top lit by windows in the ceiling. The Fairfax family are recorded as regular patrons.
Viscount Fairfax was also a frequent user of apothecaries, spending significant sums on himself, his daughter Anne and his servants. The displays include examples of ornate drug jars of the time and a Delftware Pill Tile from c. 1750s painted with the arms of The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London and the god Apollo slaying the ‘dragon’ of disease. Particularly fascinating is the trade card of James Smith from 1717, an artificial eye maker. His portrait is engraved within a circular frame holding an example of his wares, while a contemporary artificial glass eye with blue enamel iris colouring, and a French porcelain eyebath, are exhibited close by. Contraception was also of great concern among the well-to-do as is borne out by the trade card of Mrs Philips providing contraceptive methods in c. 1770.
Perfumes, Pastes and Pomades were objects in considerable demand throughout the 18th century and were increasingly associated with the idea of refinement. Perfumers sold a wide range of products dispensed from scent bottles and vinaigrettes, a variety of the latter being exhibited here. Included is the framed Royal Warrant granted to ‘Juan Famenias Floris Smooth Pointed Comb Makers to George IV’, 1820, a firm still trading in Jermyn Street London. This royal appointment would have greatly enhanced his prestige. With an emphasis on dental hygiene, an 18th-century toothpowder pot, together with a silver-handled toothbrush, are exhibited alongside a set of ivory dentures and a decorated oral hygiene set containing everything a wealthy gentleman or lady needed to look after their teeth. Amongst The World of Toys – in Georgian times ‘toys’ were not intended for children but “expensive novelties” for adults – is a ‘Miss Day’ Etui (1765-1770), which was the 18th-century equivalent of a vanity case. This example features an image of Miss Day, a popular actress of the day, derived from her portrait by Joshua Reynolds. A rare pair of tortoiseshell and silver spectacles engraved with the name William Storer, an optician and inventor of Syllepsis lenses, is displayed alongside a couple of highly decorated spy-glasses often used by opera goers, and two pairs of metal shoe buckles, the first, decorated with paste and accompanied by their case (c.1780), and the second pair of 22-carat gold (1764-68).
A corner of the exhibition is devoted to Fashionable Furnishings: Shopping for the Home. The background to this display, which is most effective, is reproduced from Christopher Gibson’s trade card showing the interior of his upholstery shop in St Paul’s Churchyard, London. A well-dressed man, possibly Christopher Gibson himself, is showing a chair to two female customers, while in the background is a representative range of goods and two upholsterers at work. Displayed is an upholsterer’s or draper’s measure of 45 inches, then the standard measure in the cloth trade and for tailoring, and a sample chair leg c. 1745, which would give a prospective client a clear indication of the finished object they would be ordering. A range of furniture and household equipment was supplied by Thomas Chippendale and a first edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, 1754, is exhibited here. This was re-issued in 1755 and 1762, with the addition of new designs, and published by subscription supported by cabinet-makers and gentlemen alike including the Reynoldson upholstery firm of York who provided all the furnishings for Lord Fairfax’s town house. Wall paper was considerably cheaper than fabrics for interior decoration and led to a growing number of retailers such as John Mush at Monk’s Bar in York, who advertised himself as “Printer of Paper Hangings” in the “newest and genteelest taste”. The range of wallpapers used in the decoration of Harewood House, Leeds, reflecting the taste for differing styles favoured in the eighteenth century, is here illustrated with reproduced samples, together with a section of the carved and gilt border fillet which was supplied by Thomas Chippendale and used throughout the house from the early 1770s.
Drapers selling an array of fabrics, together with haberdashers, lacemen and milliners, were much in demand and an exceptional English fan proclaiming ‘Rule Britannia’ depicts the interior of a draper’s shop where seats are provided for customers who are invited to view the materials in comfort as a social occasion. The draper is showing fabrics from his counter to three women and a gentleman who handle them to assess quality. Attractive silk fabric swatches (c. 1765) for dresses together with a length of blue silk brocade, are displayed here. They would have been expensive luxury items. Of particular interest is a rare pattern book of 498 textile samples collected by John Crewdson, a Kendal wool trader. This contains rare samples of linsey-wool cloth which has a linen warp and woollen weft. It is suggested that such a pattern book may have been taken to fairs or to other merchants and used in the wholesale trade. On a different note one can only wonder at the size of a pair of hand forged, crucible carbon steel shears, c. 1810-20, weighing 1.5kg, and made by William of Sheffield, for cutting large pieces of heavy fabric.
The London publisher Rudolph Ackermann introduced an innovative approach to marketing with his monthly periodical The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashion and Politics (1809-1828) where alongside advice and advertisements placed by various retailers he included a monthly feature entitled ‘The Patterns of British Manufacture’. This was an elaborately decorated coloured plate promoting a different manufacturer or retailer each month and onto which samples of different fabrics could be affixed which would consequently reach a wider public. Regular features on London’s leading luxury retailers, whose interiors were illustrated in colour and with very detailed descriptions, were intended to entice the ‘right class’ of customer. A group of prints includes Ackermann’s ‘Repository of Arts’ shop in The Strand, London, which shows customers admiring paintings in his shop which sold paintings, prints and a wide variety of art equipment. Also amongst examples featured is Messrs Harding, Howell and Co, Drapers, 89 Pall Mall (1809) which “offered its readers a step by step walk through the extensive draper’s shop”, with rolls of fabric on the walls and material draped from columns. Wedgwood and Byerley’s Showroom, York Street, St James’s Square (1809), features circular tables and glass cabinets filled with china. Wedgwood would change his displays to stimulate his customers and encourage repeat visits. Ackermann’s prints show just how developed marketing and shopping had become by the early 19th century. The richness of consumables which Georgian Britain had at its disposal, and the retail experiences and practices, are thoroughly explored in this treasure trove of an exhibition. This fulfils its aim, to quote Hannah Phillip, Director of Fairfax House, “to challenge the notion that our passion for shopping is a modern phenomenon and shows its roots were actually firmly established in the eighteenth century”. It is sad that such a rich and well-researched exhibition is not accompanied by a permanent record in printed form.
Consuming Passions is at Fairfax House, York, until December 31st 2015.