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‘A Little Old‐China Mad': Lady Dorothea Banks (1758‐1828) and Her Dairy at Spring Grove
Author(s) -
Leis Arlene
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/1754-0208.12410
Subject(s) - cabinet (room) , wife , china , spring (device) , estate , art history , history , economic history , art , ancient history , engineering , political science , law , archaeology , mechanical engineering
Lady Dorothea Banks (1758‐1828), wife of the eminent botanist and President of the Royal Society Sir Joseph Banks, was – like her husband – an avid collector. Shortly after she married, she transformed the dairy building at the Bankses' home in Spring Grove into an exquisite china cabinet. All that remains of the collection today, however, is a manuscript describing some of Lady Banks's best wares; it explains the collection and her collecting methodologies. Focusing on the manuscript, this article considers the many ways in which, science, sociability and the practice of collecting were physically intermingled within the Bankses' country estate.