Treacherous objects: Towards a theory of Jacobite material culture

Abstract

This article examines the importance of material objects and their circulation, decor, cant and code as means of avoiding prosecution under sedition or treason legislation in the period from 1680 to 1760. It seeks to move the discussion of the use of such material in communicative and associative strategies beyond the realms of antiquarianism and connoisseurship to develop a theory of Jacobite material culture. The study concludes with an examination of the work of James Gibbs and a discussion of interior plasterwork in Scotland and England, notably at the House of Dun. © 2011 British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.