Furnishing the Eighteenth Century

Dena Goodman is Professor of History at the University of Michigan. Kathryn Norberg is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles and editor of Signs.

"The twelve essays that constitute this collection provide ample new, thoughtful, and frequently surprising revelations about what eighteenth-century furniture said to a broad range of makers, users, and audiences...."--Enfilade, newsletter for Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art and Architecture"There have been few attempts to make the history of furniture above all a form of cultural and social history....all of these essays add to our stock of knowledge about furniture's importance."--H-France review"The book would make a really interesting addition to any design-related library, especially for a reader who appreciates in-depth essyas."--Style Court blog

• Acknowledgements, Introduction, Dena Goodman and Kathryn Norberg, Part 1: Mapping Meaning Globally 1. Orientalism, Colonialism, and Furniture in Eighteenth-Century France, Madeleine Dobie, Columbia University, 2. Luxury Markets in Saint Domingue: Mahogany as a Case Study, Chaela Pastore, California State University, San Marcos, 3. A Wanton Chase in a Foreign Place: Hogarth and the Gendering of Exoticism in the Eighteenth-Century Interior, David Porter, University of Michigan, Part 2: Diffusion, 4. Fashion, Business, Diffusion: An Upholsterer’s Shop in Eighteenth-Century Paris , Translated by Kathryn Norberg & Dena Goodman , Natacha Coquery, Université de Tours, 5. Sideboards, Side Chairs, and Globes: Changing Modes of Furnishing Provincial Culture in the Early Republic, 1790-1820, David Jaffee, University of North Florida, Part 3: Social Meaning and Social Power, 6. Color Schemes and Decorative Tastes in the Noble Houses of Seventeenth-Century Dauphiné, Donna Bohanon, Auburn University, 7. Tea Tables Overturned: Rituals of Power and Place in Colonial America, Ann Smart Martin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 8. Goddess of Taste: Courtesans and their Furniture in the Late Eighteenth Century, Kathryn Norberg, 9. Decoration and Enlightened Spectatorship, Mary Salzman, Stanford University, Part 4: Hidden Meanings: Psychology and Security, 10. The Joy of Sets: The Uses of Seriality in the French Interior, Mimi Hellman, Skidmore College, 11. The Secretaire and the Integration of the Eighteenth-Century Self, Dena Goodman, 12. Looking at Furniture Inside Out: Strategies for Concealment and Secrecy in Eighteenth-Century French Furniture, Carolyn Sargentson, Victoria and Albert Museum, Notes on Contributors, Index