ABSTRACT
In the first part of this book, we examined how members and affiliates of the House of Orange-Nassau claimed spaces in both Europe and abroad through their actions, their involvement with the trading companies, and their development of lavish architectural and horticultural complexes in territories that came under Orange-Nassau cultural or political influence. In Chapters 2 and 3 we examined the use of objects ranging from palaces and gardens to urban structures, new industries, and exotic plants insofar as they shaped space in ways that associated it with the innovative and global power of the House of Orange-Nassau. In Part 2, ‘Materialising power’, we turn to the material culture inside these exquisite palatial buildings and carefully organised landscapes, analysing how the employment, exchange, and display of objects, individually and in particular combinations within these spaces, made claims to Orange-Nassau identity and power. Here, we explore the production of material culture in Europe to support Orange-Nassau ambitions, and in the following chapter we examine how objects from overseas territories were made to exert power for the House as they were utilised in Europe.
