ABSTRACT

During the nineteenth century, Impressionist artists were particularly inspired by Orientalism and the accompanying material culture, and they often collected a range of items as points of reference for their work, especially porcelain wares. In this chapter, the authors demonstrate that eighteenth-century collections have survived in many ways, even if, as in the case of the Lady Banks, a collection’s physical presence is no longer completely intact. Recently, Beth Tobin demonstrated convincingly, in her study of the Duchess of Portland’s shell collection that is no longer extant, that textual evidence in the form of drawings, catalogues, letters, and diaries, amongst other items, are important evidence that attest to the social practices and the material and culture of natural history collecting. One of the problems with the ways collecting has been thought of is that women’s collections and their collecting practices have so often been measured and valued in relation to the contents, methodologies, and collecting practices of men.