Silver: mined and in mind / Toby Barnard -- The production and supply of gold and silver boxes in late Stuart and Georgian Dublin / Damian Collins -- Elite gift exchange: a royal christening gift for Lady Emily Lennox in the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection and christening gifts in the V&A Collections / Tessa Murdoch -- The dukes of Ormondes' silver inventories, 1674{u2013}1715 / Thomas Sinsteden -- 'Taken or destroy'd': the silver at Castlecomer House and the Irish Rebellion of 1798 / Jessica Cunningham -- Jewellery in Georgian Dublin, 1770 to 1830 / Breda Scott -- Jewellery in eighteenth-century Ireland: from the staple to the sublime to the sentimental / Zara Power -- Irish provincial silver in the Georgian period / John R. Bowen -- Plate, plated wares, plotting and proposals: Matthew Boulton's Irish correspondence / Alison FitzGerald
Summary:
Irish silver, for long renowned among collectors and connoisseurs, is increasingly being considered as an aspect of the material world of the past. Its making, acquisition and use tells much about past attitudes and behaviour. At the same time, careful examination of surviving articles not only adds to appreciation of the design and craftsmanship but also to Ireland's participation in international fashions. This volume, with new research by established and emerging scholars from Ireland and the UK, advances the study across a broad range. The contributions examine the circumstances in which silver objects were made, sold, valued and dispersed in Georgian Ireland. It considers specialized branches of the trade including the production of freedom boxes and jewellery, the sourcing of metals and materials, the value of inventories as evidence and regional patterns and preferences. This book builds on recent literature on the history of silver, second-hand markets, guilds and luxury goods, to recover and reconsider Ireland's silversmithing