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Journal of the History of Collections Advance Access originally published online on October 24, 2006
Journal of the History of Collections 2007 19(1):1-13; doi:10.1093/jhc/fhl035
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Ambassadorial plate of the later Stuart period and the collection of the Earl of Strafford

Helen Jacobsen


  Abstract

Ambassadorial plate was a perquisite received from the royal Jewel House to enhance the standing of a diplomat abroad. While it had obvious connotations of magnificence, there were also practical consequences relating to its value as specie. Although the plate was specifically lent only for the period of the embassy, attitudes towards the perquisite changed after the Restoration and, increasingly, diplomats viewed it as their own property. This is evidenced by their involvement in commissioning and designing the silver, and the increased number of ambassadors retaining it for their private use. In the light of detailed records relating to the Earl of Strafford's collection, commissioned between 1711 and 1713 while he was ambassador at The Hague, and using other diplomatic sources from the period, this article demonstrates the changing attitudes to diplomatic plate and sheds light on the importance of silver in the increasingly cosmopolitan worlds of fashion and sociability.

Address for correspondence Helen Jacobsen, New College, Oxford OX1 3BN. helen.jacobsen{at}new.ox.ac.uk


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