In this beautifully illustrated book, Rosalie Sharp looks at the society in which her collection of porcelain and pottery was produced in England in the 1800s. Her contemporary witnesses include the diarists Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, letter writers Horace Walpole and Mary Delany, and a host of other raconteurs and travellers. These accounts, together with her own extensive reading, have enabled her to write a lively story of the daily life of the period - from food, dress and sexual escapades, through leisure activities such as music, dance, theatre, masquerade and sport, to country houses, grand tours, crime and religious and racial prejudice. It is a rich brew, peppered with cameo sketches of key personages of the time, from the royal family, to government and military leaders, to porcelain manufacturers, to street peddlers and villains.
Set amid this text, the porcelain pieces and pottery figures illustrated here take on layers of meaning and exemplify a multitude of fascinating facts. In effect, a plate or a figurine can represent a thousand words - if only you have the key. And, with this book, Rosalie Sharp has given us the key.
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