The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

In the eye of the beholder: 'Seeing' textiles in the early modern interior

In the eye of the beholder: 'Seeing' textiles in the early modern interior
In the eye of the beholder: 'Seeing' textiles in the early modern interior
This article explores the physical, cultural and aesthetic conditions for perceiving textiles in early modern England, in order to reconstruct contemporary responses to them. It begins by arguing for the level of explicitness of the engagement with the senses in printed materials on this subject. Focusing on sight, it then considers the depictions of the senses in the interior design at Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire, and Knole, Kent, in relation to religious and moral ideas about the ‘eye of faith’, to Humanist representations of sight as a sense associated with women and to the élite mastery of the senses. The article then opens the subject out to consider different ways of ‘seeing’ textile furnishings in this period and the kind of visual responses they invited — it explores fading eyesight and looking glasses, times of day and mirrors. Finally, it suggests that textile objects functioned as perks and as evidence of loyalty and proximity to the Crown, and points to the lack of distinction between new and second-hand pieces, even among high-ranking members of society, and to the sight and appreciation of inventory makers whose descriptions give access to their sense of the most obvious features of textiles, most notably colour and lustre.
0040-4969
27-42
Hayward, Maria
4be652e4-dcc0-4b5b-bf0b-0f845fce11c1
Hayward, Maria
4be652e4-dcc0-4b5b-bf0b-0f845fce11c1

Hayward, Maria (2016) In the eye of the beholder: 'Seeing' textiles in the early modern interior. Textile History, 47 (1), 27-42. (doi:10.1080/00404969.2016.1144701).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article explores the physical, cultural and aesthetic conditions for perceiving textiles in early modern England, in order to reconstruct contemporary responses to them. It begins by arguing for the level of explicitness of the engagement with the senses in printed materials on this subject. Focusing on sight, it then considers the depictions of the senses in the interior design at Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire, and Knole, Kent, in relation to religious and moral ideas about the ‘eye of faith’, to Humanist representations of sight as a sense associated with women and to the élite mastery of the senses. The article then opens the subject out to consider different ways of ‘seeing’ textile furnishings in this period and the kind of visual responses they invited — it explores fading eyesight and looking glasses, times of day and mirrors. Finally, it suggests that textile objects functioned as perks and as evidence of loyalty and proximity to the Crown, and points to the lack of distinction between new and second-hand pieces, even among high-ranking members of society, and to the sight and appreciation of inventory makers whose descriptions give access to their sense of the most obvious features of textiles, most notably colour and lustre.

Text
TEX_47_1_Hayward_final text_3.12.15.docx - Accepted Manuscript
Download (63kB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 3 December 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 13 April 2016
Published date: May 2016
Organisations: History

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 392796
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/392796
ISSN: 0040-4969
PURE UUID: 7ed5dafb-06f0-4542-b2e8-ddef1bb51e42
ORCID for Maria Hayward: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3299-4383

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 18 Apr 2016 09:13
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:29

Export record

Altmetrics

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×