Lecture

THE MEANING AND MOVEMENT OF ASIAN GOODS IN THE BRITISH COUNTRY HOUSE

The Case of Sir Lawrence Dundas and the East India Company

This lecture explores the movement and meaning of East India Company goods acquired by Sir Lawrence Dundas of Aske Hall, Richmond in North Yorkshire in the eighteenth century. It contributes to the debate about how far and in what ways Asian goods were incorporated into British life. Why did he acquire this exotic porcelain, lacquerware and furniture, and did it have any special significance to him? It considers the mobility of material culture and how we can map its journey across place and time.

Helen Clifford specialises in the material culture and manufactures of the late 17th and 18th centuries, linking curatorial expertise with social and economic history. She was the Senior Research Fellow on the The East India Company at Home, 1757-1857 project based at University College London between 2011-2014 when the research for this lecture was undertaken. As well as being an academic historian she also runs the Swaledale Museum in Reeth, North Yorkshire.

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