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The Institute for Cultural Research offers an institutional home and heightened visibility for cultural research at Lancaster, facilitating for a range of activities across the University. Running its own prograrrune of seminars, workshops and conferences, the ICR also co-ordinates an interdisciplinary programme of graduate studies in contemporary culture and culfural history. The lnstitute seminars currently in progress include: TheLaw of the Political; The Human GenomeDiuersity Project; and Millennial Capital. The Politics of Emerging Politieal Complexes (February1999) is a forthcoming conference. Cultural Research deals with contemporary culfure and cultural history from the standpoint of cultural theory. It attends to the changing nature of contemporary life, to contemporary culture's representations of itself, to its different social and spatial scales,from the local to the global; and to its technologies. It concerns itself with the everyday: with experience, and with cultural texts and their uses. Culhrral Researchat Lancasteris distinguished by the extension of established theories into thesenew domains of enquiry.

Director of Graduate Programmes:.Annctte Kuhn M.A. Course Team: lackie Staceqand Andreut Quick

Valuing the Visual and Visualizing the Valuable: Jewellery and its Ambiguitiesl Marcia Pointon University of Manchester

The P hD i n C ul tural R esearch is strr,rcturt'cl irrountl .t first-ycar core scnrin.rron t'trlttrralrcsearclt and rnetl'roclologv. lhis offers a fbrunr for tltt' t'xplrrr.rtiorr oi kc.V

Abstr&ct. lewellery is both econonically and nffectiz,elyo hightV irrucstedcategory of artefact. Diamonds - which becnnrethe fnuttrrrt,ld {t'ilt-stoilesiu Europettnsocieties from the lntc stuenttcnth cctrttrrtl olftr n historicsl index of ralue in reletittn to tht: consun4ttittrrof. lururies. At tlrc sunrctinrc, they are emltetltlctlin nrqth in zuaystlrttt lt'rtl tlrc circulation, cxch(tngearrd ztearing of diaminrls t,uti pnrticulnr rcso,lances. As nrinerals,oncecut and polished,dianrcndssttroct tlrcctlc ond tlr,s seraeas a metaphorfor the gaze in Lacanianpsychonnalysis. Tlris paper brings togetlrcr questiotts corrce rning uisualitlr ,s n Itistorically specificexperiencein the early motlern period and issrrcsr,/ wlnt is ruettntbq consumptionas q prL)cess thet is not ttnlV ccorrotttit sntl socialbut alsopsuchic.

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shortlv after the end of world war II, the journalist and essayist ceoffrey Grigson broadcast a talk on The plessuresof leutelleryin which lre confessed: 'I use my fancy for precious stones to illuminate dark moments, much as jewellers' slrops illuminate the wettest, blackc.st, windiest cities of the industrial North' (Grigson, 1955, p. 30). In Bo.d street over forty years later, my eyes veer towards the jeweller's window, full of white ever-moving light that is hard to describe: diamorrds irresistibly drawing the look. This is a different worlcl from the poorly-lit post-war streets of Grigson's perambulations. yet the idea of a relationship of attraction between the jewel and the humarr eye crs rooted in particular historical moments, underlies both experiences.Irr jtrxtaposing these instancesof the visual, I wish to ask what ls it was 'r it - to look at - or to acquire - jewels? How can we address thc historicity of this mode of visualitv and its effects? First, clarification of some terms: the word 'jewellery' rlerives from French joaillerie and, although it always had strong .-rssociations with personal adornment, in early modern Europe it tended to mean any precious and valued small-scaleobject. By the late seventeenthcentury, 'jewellery' has begun to acquire its modern exclusive meaning of items of personal adornment made from precious metals and gemstonr.s. 'l ew el '

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jcwellery, but it may be used to describc overall an object containing gcmstones, an elision indicating how the most preciclus elenlent (the gemstonc rather than the setting) has come to stand for the whole. ln an historical sense,jcwellery may be undc'rstood as an indcx to forms of plcasure and as a€Jencyin the constrlrction of identity and, thcrcfore, also in thc articulation of powcr. ln short, jc'wellery as a phenclmenollln cultural history links the economic with fascinationaud dcsirc. On account of this social and etymological richness,iewellery serves as a powerful metaphor. Thus Lacarriltvokes the iewcl as the summation in his explication of the distinctivenessof the gazc, as separatc irom thc eye as organ of vision, and as characterisedby a play of opacity and trarrsparcncy.The kcy passagc follows the famous storv of thc sardinc tin glittering in the water, the point of light which l-acan se-esbut which does not sce him (though, sincc there is light enabling him to scc, he may also be secn). Despitc the risks attc'ndanton cluoting i,n translation what or iginat c d a s a l c c tu re a n d w h a t i s , i n any casc,textual l y confused,i t i s wor t h giv in g i n fu l l th i s p c ts s a g ,(' :

r,,rri t' i yand r ar it y t o consum er dcsir e t hat 'G em s and diam onds ar e on tl rrs.rccountm uch cst eem edby us' ( Sm it h, 7896,p. 158) . ' Ccor g Sim m el, l i kew i sc, was int er est cd in t he'psychology of jewcls'and devot ed a t't'ntral section of his 1908 Sociology (Simmel, 1992, pp. 414-27; 5i rl nrel, l995) t o enquir ing int o t hc phcnom enon of ador nm ent as par t of ,ur cxamirration of the secret of socialisation.And Bataille, in 1933, citcs jtw,cls as a prime illustration of unconditional cxpenditure which, as a Iornr of sacrifice or loss, points up thc irrationality of consumption in oppositiorr to the classic model of cconomics founded on a balance bt' tw t:enpr oduct ion and expcr r dit ur e( Bat aillc,1985,p. 119) . Wc do not know what jewel Lacan had in mind, but we might invoke thc faceted surfaces of a cut diamond (thc result of thc intervention of human skill t o t ur n an unat t r act ive and cxt r cm elv har d, dull and tr.rnslrarentmineral into an object that glittcrs). (SeeFigures I arrd 2):

In what is presentcdto ne as spaceof light, that which is gazeis alwavs It is erlwaysthat gleamof light it lay at ihe a play of light and opracitv. it is always this which prcvcntsme, at cach little story heart oi my point, from bcing a scrccn, froln making thc light aPPcar as an o ve r f- lcr ws it. /r r sltttrt, thc Tttti rtt of l hc -l 987, p. 96). l t t t r t i c i l t atcs ir t tlt( siltb icr tity o .f th t fe tlc/. ( L acan,

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What, then, is this ambiguity of the jcwcl? A lewel is a costly ornament, a snrall and precious thing (OED). loaillc derives from 'ioic' (joy) or, pe rlraps, from 'ict( (garne). Unlike 'gcm', which suggests a raw m iner alogi c a le l e m c n t, ' j e w c l ' i mp l i c s a compl cx i ntertw i ni ng of nature and artifice, the absorption of the geological into thc cultural (Kemp, 1995) . ' B y c o r.rtra swt i th th e s a rd i n e ti n image of the acci dcntal ,the j ew cl with its long history of biblical, poctic and mcdicinal properties/ appears s ingular , un i v e rs a l ,a n d a b s tra c te dfro m parti cul ari ti es. On the othcr harrd, wt' might spcak of thc qualities of iewels, of their cap;rcity and social uscfulness in attracting the eyc. This process has Iong becr-rrt'cognised.ln an intcresting proto-l,acatriatrclbscrvation,Jean I louc luet w ru rtc i n 1 7 5 5 th a t' o f a l l t he organs oi scnse, tht' cye i s doubtless the busiest; nothing can eclual the activity lror the irequt'nt as s iduit y o f i ts l o o k s . w i th a n i n s a ti abl e avi di tv i t searchesaftr:r new c r bjc c t s. . . ' (l to u q u e t,7 7 5 5 , p p . 1 8 -1 9 ).The pl easr-rreof drcss, cl ai ms Rouquet ,o u ts tri p s a l l o th e r p a s s i o n s .But most espcci al l v' thc bri l l i ancy and valuc clf jewels is one ctf the surcst means of adding something to t he im por ta n c c o f o u r b e i n g ; th e y p ro c lai m us frtl m afar; they extcnd, as it r,r'ere,thc limits of our existcnce' (Roucluet, 1755, pp. 89-90). Adam Smith takcs up thc theme, stating in his discussion of the importancc of

Figure1. ''fhe world's mostcxpcnsivepair of e-arrings'. I)hotoby (lraham Turncrof Jeu'ellcrvsold at Christit-'s, [-ondon. Tht'CLutrdian, 17Altrrl1996. A ThtGuardiart The diamond glittcrs because this particular gcmstone has a high rciractive indcx. In fact, Lacan is irrcorrcct to use the word opaquc (opacitQsince gemstoncs are dull rathcr than opaque, strictly spcaking, though we would all r ecognischis descr ipt ionof 't he plav of light '. lf wc takc the caseof a faccted diamitncl, this charactcristicplav of light works as fol l o ws: t he st one is placed in an envir onm cnt of light ( and in candlclight the effcct is cxaggeratcd) and the light going in is white but, on acco untof t he r ef r act ivcindex ( which m akes t he bcam s of light bend) and the faceting which intcnsifies the proccss, the emcrging rays arc differcnt colours. Dispersion scparates out thcse colours, ancl the q rrrf e e o

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6 Marcia Pointon

from the empiricist notion of consumption as the processes through which economic resources are used up 'in the satisfaction of human wants', through 'consciously narrated behaviour' (Campbell, 7987, p. 38). 'Wants' in this literature was largely reliant on theories of emulation and of supply and demand. In so far as a psychic dimension was recognised, it was identified with a basic Freudian notion of 'day dreaming' (Campbell, p. 95). Historians and sociologists now recognise not only that making and consuming are historically complex and crucial to an understanding of modernism and, in particular, postmodernism (See Bocock, 1993), but also that they are predicated upon personal behaviour." In the work of these scholars however, desire is a surface phenomenon and no-one has, to my knowledge, seriously moved on to consider how the personal might be read historically in ways that are not driven by quantification of deta or by biographical I constructs. Recognising the significance of the jewel at the centre of Lacan's scopic structure, I shall extend my enquiry in historical terms and ask how the dynamic of the gaze might account for historically specific characteristics of consumption. I interrogate historical change acknowledged through shifts in the relationship between producers, sellers, purchasers, and users - through the dialectical configurations of desire construed as both psychic and social. My aim is, therefore, to use a theoretical apparatus to illuminate jewel consumption as processby examining particular cases. If a consideration of the characteristics material and cultural - of 'jewel' can, however marginally, open up a passage of Lacary how can Lacan's metaphor help us in an understanding of jewels and jewellery within the interconnecting domains of fantasy and of the social? I shall argue that, while by no means unique (clothes and make-up also fall within the category of luxury worn on, or associated with, the body), jewels offer particular insights into the process of consumption as part of a scopic regime. Becauseit has been identified as the age when consumption as a modern commercialised phenomenon originated (McKendrick et dl, 1982; Bermingham and Brewer, 1995,Pointory 7997),my main focus will be on eighteenth-century England.' However, this essay seeks to challenge historicist assumptions by stressing the poetics of visuality, and my frame of reference will, therefore, be wider than this emphasis might imply.

Well my birthday has comeand gone but it was really quite depressing.I mean it seems to me a gentleman who has a friendly interest in educating a girl like Gus Eismary would want her to have the biggest squarecut diamond in New York. I must say I was quite disappointed when he came to the apartment with a little thing you could hardly see.

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ValuingtheVisual,Visualizing theValuable7 So I told him I thought it was quite cute,but I had quite a headacheand I lrad betterstay in a dark room all day and I told him I would seehim the rrcxtday, perhaps.Becauseeven Lulu thought it was quite small and she s.riclshe aiways beiieved in the oid addage,'Leave them wl.rileyou,re Iooking good'. But he camein at dinner time with really quite a beautiful braceletof scluarecut diamonds so I was cheeredup (Loos,1992,p. Z5). l'hc story of this birthday gift instantiates the intertwining of the t'rrrnomic with the sexual and the social; Lorelei's manipulative sexual tacticsto improve on the status of her gift are disguised as a ,headache,, .rnd the implication is that what is at issue here are the dimensions of nrore than merely Gus Eisman's diamonds. Seeing and looking are the rrrainspring of this narrative in which sexual and social identity are rlcternrined within visuality. The question 'how valuable am I?, is tied Lrp he're with the economic question of how valuable/large is the tliamond I have been given? Lorelei's sexual and economic transactions nray further be understood in relation to Bataille's statement that jewels .rnd excrement are connected. This is 'not only a question of association by contrast' but one in which jewels are excrement 'a part of oneself clc-stinedfor open sacrifice', serving as'gifts charged with sexual love, (B atai l l e,1985,p. 119) .

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8 Marcia Pointon

clrange. The human body decays and rots (is itself recycled) but the diamonds it wears outlive it by thousands of years. The association between death and jewellery is, consequently, peculiarly poignant -fleshless whether staged in the opening of ancient graves revealing skeletons and perfectly preserved gold and gems, or in the jewelled citadel of the Book of Revelations. In the economic sphere, eighteenthcentury watch-makers (whose professional expertise is advertised through an imagery of time-pieces) are also producers of jewellery devised for mourning rituals (see Figure 3) and their trade cards make visible these connections through symbol and narration. Mourning rings

V al ui ng the V i s ual , V i s ual i z i ng the V al uabl e 9

l)('rnlalrent'.But in the penultimate paragraph of the book diamonds are rt'stored to an equal footing with death: 'They [the eyes of the corpse] lr.rclbe'enwrong. Death is forever. But so are diamonds' (Fleming, 1988,

t) lu4,p.192). Jewellery is central to gift economies in western cultures; purchased l'\' one inclividual to be passed to another in a rite of passage,jewellery is celebratory, and therefore also disciplinary. Jewellery events make visible - ostend - agreements and acquiescencesbetween human srrbjects.But at the same time these very exchangesstage the underside of a social ecollomy, that of illicit acquisition. Ownership carries with it the possibility of loss.In the events surroundirrg the deaths in 1997of tl-re l'rincc.ssof Wales and Dodi Al Fayed, the structural relations between giving and losing articulated within a drama of jewellery are cle-arly .rpparent.The diamond ring, allegedly given by the Princess'sfriend to lrer on the night they died, instantly attracted attention, firstlv as tt'stimony to the authenticity of a relatjonship that was widelv wished ftrr, and secondly as a poignant late twentieth-century Vonitnssymbol." lror rings are familiar motifs in paintings, particularly in the seventeenth ccntury, that display a mass of elements reminiscent of superiluity ar-rd ciccay such as burnt-ont candles, skulls, hour-glasses and jewel boxes (SeeFigure 5).

Figure4. Mourning ring with a vesicashapedbezelset with a glassenclosingan urn in blue and white enameland a weeping willow worked in hair, surroundedby a blue enamelborder set with seedpearls,inscribedon the back: 'IOHN DAVYS ESQR.OB.22 APRIL 1783AT.70 Eliz DAVyS OBT.7 Dec.1984 ET 55', English 178.1. BVcourtesy of thcBoard oiTrustaes of thcVictoria andAlhertMuseutn, Lordon(911-1888) (See Figure 4), were multi-media devices constructed of paint, glass, jewels, and human hair, and incorporated motifs that combined the natural (the weeping willow is here embroidered in hair) and the artificial. Rings such as this, framed in pearls or precious stones, invite a staged mode of scrutiny whereby the jewels, apparently magnified by the miniaturisation of the world behind the glass, attract the eye while the urn deflects the interrogatory gaze. This oscillation between comp-ulsion and rejection plays out the refractory properties of the jewel, and the mythic drama of death; the notion of the jewel as something that r-rotonly commemoratesbut makes death visible is articulated at a most fiteral level in lan Fleming's novel Disntonds sre Foreuer,whery having disnosed of a diamond smueeler. Iames Bond looks into the dead man's

Figure 5. Ankrnio de Pereda, El SuefioLlelCtfunllero,oil on canvas, 1655, Madricl MuseoLlclo RealActdanfuLleBtllnsArtcsde SnnLcrttattdo

10 Marcia Pointon

Jewellery, at least since the seventeenth century, has been particularly the property of womery passed from mothers to daughters; it is also tied to generation. Literature abounds not only with presentgiving, but also with cross-generation acquisition. One thinks, for example, of the key passage at the opening of Middlemarch (7877-2) when Celia and Dorothea sort and divide their deceasedmother's jewels. It is a scene in which the physical and psychological attributes of the female protagonists are shaped for readers. These associations between jewellery and the female body get their charge from the tension between acquisition and potential loss and, concomitantly, between visibility and invisibility. Thus, for example, the transgression of Moll Flanders's act in the following passage is conveyed not simply through the description of an act of felony committed upon an unsuspecting citizen. It is a perversion of the maternal feminine in which thq dark alley is a place of the soul as well as a part of the London topography so vividly represented in Defoe's novel, and in this deviant and abusive act, the motion of stooping brings the protagonist on a par with the animal:

Valuing the Visual, Visualizing the Valuable 11

ri,'rrt'ricirllyas the contents of a box belonging to her mother but also in a '.1'r'tilic sense.Like Lorelei Lee, Dora's mother was not content with her rirll l,trt was angry with herhusband for giving her a bracelet instead of r' ,' ,rr' lrl n r DSf or her ear s.

...theChild had a little necklaceon of Gold Beads,and I had my Ey [sic] upon that, and in the dark of the Ally I stoop'd, pretendingto mend the Child's Clog that was loose,and took off her Necklaceand the Child neverfelt it... (Defoe,p. 189). Furthermore, the relationship between ostentatious visibility and secretive occlusion summed up by the image of jewels safely stowed in their velvet-lined box, re-presents the female body as sexualised. Jewel box imagery is a familiar occurrence in family dramas. In Molidre's L'EcoIedesFenmres(1662,Ii (i)) the beautiful young Agnds is locked up by her ugly guardian, who intends to marry her, but manages to establish a liaison with a handsome young man; the denouement involves Agn6s accepting une belle cassette(fine casket) which, insists her guardian is tantamount to un pechdmortel (a mortal sin). Images of women and jewel boxes are widespread in European culture. One such, attributed to Louis L6opold Boilly, The Present,(SeeFigure 6), exploits a compelling range of ideas evocative of female sexual initiation: the older woman inserts a gold earring into the right ear of a seated younger woman. This figure holds in her lap a letter with the seal broken and a jewel box. The third figure, a female child looks longingly at the box while holding in her hand a small mirror.' In Freud's famous 'failed' case history of Ida Bauer (Dora), the analysand narrates a dream in which the house is on fire and her father refusesto stop and save his wife's jewel case(Freud, 1977,p.98). What is interesting for my argument is that onc of the central motifs in this figuration of family drama is the presencc of jewels. Nor are the jewels worn as part of an outfit. Jc.welsfcature in Dora's narrative not only

Figure6. Louis LdopoldBoilly (1761-1845),The Present, oil on panel,1725. CLtTtenlmgen: StatensMuseumfur Kunst. Photo:Hnns Petersett

What I wish to emphasise in ranging through these narratives - in lvhich jewels serve to connect body with subject identity while t'stablishing sites of struggle over erotic access - is the way in which jt'wels and jewellery bring into play the ambiguity of precious artefacts that elide with the female body and yet which are vulnerable to loss and occlusion, and the ways in which sexual identities are played out through jewel exchanges which inflect the importance of seeing and visuality (the socioscopic) and so also possession in the social and cultural organisation of the phantasised female body. Having sketched in the importance of jewels in the cultural mediation of death and sexuality, I shall now return to questions of visuality and consumption. To consume means, literally, to ingest and, by so doing to destroy the object consumed by making at least some of it a part of oneself. Food is a case in

I 2 M a r c i a P o in to n

Valuing the Visual, Visualizing the Valuable 13

between need and desire. As Lacan puts it in his essav on Hqmlet, tl:re object of desire is different from the 'object of any need. Something becomes an object of desire when it takes ihe ptace of what, by its very nature, remains concealed from the subject' (Lacan, 1977, p.28). The point is - and this takes us back also to jewel cases- that the relationship betrveen the subject and the object of desire is, ultimately, a relationship of something secret and hidden, albeit played out in the arena of the visual."' The history of consumption in early modern England parallels the evolution of a market economy; advertising shifts the emphasis in the eiglrteerrthcenturv from buying what you see to seeing what you want to buy (Agnew; McKendrick, et a1). But such histories overlook desire and fail to give due attentiorr to the metaphorical complexity of 'consumption'. We need to ask, at what moment consumption occurs, ancl how social relations are manifest in acts of consumption that are driven by desire? We may infer from historical tlocumentation, and particularly from portraits, that jewels were regarded in western culture as an apt demonstration of wealtl'r and status, as with, for example, Wybrand de Geest's family portrait of 1627 (See Figure 7) in which an

,'ntirt: family represents itself with each member wearing distinctive ;r'rvt'ls or, in a different social register, Jean-Etienne Liotard;s portrait of \l,rrie Th6rdse, Empress of Austria, 'covered in diamonds' (1762) (see l rlitrrt' 8)." But to claim that consumptio. is an exercise in identity tllt'rrningham and Brewer, introd.) is to go beyond this relatively simple .t'lationship between signifier (image of individual wearing jewels) and .igrrified (economic wealth) and to evoke psychic, as wellis economic, Bv excluding the notion of choice as a corrsciousor unconscious l'r'()('('ss. l,rt't.r, and by drawing on the Lacanian theory of desire, for which the |t'wcl stands as an image, it is possible to shed rrew light on these tIrcstions. Jewels - clearly divorced from need, and central to narratrves .l gendered identity - offer rich opportunities for an in-depth t'r.amination of consumption at the level of phantasy. Jewellery, tlrcrefore, occupies a special position in consumer culture: it l)rcsupposesa visual regime which defines the individual (female) body bv its accessories; it supplies highly concentrated and spectacular t'vidence of economic status; it participates in the drama of visuality and tlesire as proposed in Lacanian theories of the gaze.

Figure8. Jean-Etienne Liotard, Portrait of the En.rpress Marie-Th6rdse of Austria, pastelon parchment,1762 Nlusle d'Art et d'Histoire (Cabinetdcs Dessirr-s), Vilfu dc Gentua (no.1g39_10).photo: MALIG

Figure 7. Wvbrand de Ce'est,l:ntrril.ry Portrnif,oil orr canvas,1621

Stuttgart: Staatsgalcrie(no. 745)

In order to explore the interaction between these elements, I will turn now to an image which is - as material artefact - itself characteristicof early modern consumer culture. L-r 1823 the Sdvres Factorv produced a porcelain service decorated with scenesfrom the'Arts Inciustriels,(see Figure 9).

14 Marcia Pointon

Decorated by Jean-Charles Develly, one plate contains a representation of a jeweller's shop. Enclosed in a rim of graduated quatrefoils, and with the words 'loaillier. Parures montdes'at its foot, this consumer object offers a simulated peep-hole glimpse into a highly naturalistically represented scene of consumer activity. This is not the place to explore the intriguing practice of ceramic objects as image fields - though the voyeurism implied by this circular decorative/utilitarian object is certainly worthy of consideration. Rather I want to draw attention to the (by this date) familiar division of the space into foreground elegant showroom and background workshop (Walsh, 1995). At the centre of this image is a seated woman who faces the viewer but turns toward the counter where a shop assistant holds up a necklace for her, and the male companion who looks over her shoulder, to examine. Ranged along the countcr is a series of five jeweller's display stands on which are arranged the paruresadvertised in the text: necklaces, earrings and tiaras. The woman's bosom is constituted as the last in the line of display stands: it parallels the stands, and terminates the sequence, the

Figure 9. Plate from the Servicc.des Arts Irrdustriels, Sdvres factory, soft-paste porcelain, decorated by Jean-Charlcs De.r,elly,diameter 9 inches.

Valuing the Visual, Visualizing the Valuable 15

line of which is then firmlv cut off bv the man's left arm, his hat, and the [,ack of the chair on which the woman is seated. At the other side of the roorn two men (possibly one of them a salesman) are positioned before a table on which a variety of jewellery is laid out, more spilling from a jt'wcl box close by. One man holds up in his hand a hair ornament to rvlrich he gesticulates with the tip of his cane. The scene at the left is r'oncerned with display, with the peculiar combination of spectacular visibility that will ensue when the elaborate iewelled necklace that is t'cing held up meets the smooth exposed flesh awaiting it. The scene at tlrc right (separated by the vertical door jamb) on the other hand, rt'plicates compositions produced throughout the eighteenth century showing gentlemen 'in conversation'. The gestures and body postures irrdicate a learned and privileged exchange that binds the participants irrto a shared community of power, knowledge and social class. What identities, thery are being constructed through these acts of consumption represented upon a consumer object? One thing is irnmediately evident that can, perhaps, help in shaping an trnclerstanding of the process of consumption: these engagements lrt'tween individuals are predicated upon a hiatus or a gap. We wait for llro object (necklace or hair ornament) to be united with a body. ('onsumption, it seems, has no moment. Does it happen here in the front of tlre shop, with production going on in the background? Will we be .rble'to speak of consumption only once the jewellery reaches the bosom, ()r nlay we assume money has already changed hands and that the obiects have, therefore, passed from production to consumption? None of these is really correct; what this in'rage conveys to us is that t'onsumption involves at its apex always the notion of anticipation, of the gap between desire and fulfilment that is imaged in the never-fullyrt'solved relationship between the body and the accessory. In other words (noting the connection between accessory and access- the act of coming to so as to join) consumption is a never-to-be-completed process. 'l'lrat this is a gendered structure is immediately apparent: knowledge (corrnoisseurship and command over the material) at the right of our inr..rgeis the masculine domain that connects (directly via the sight-line) to production at the rear of the shop whereas the bosom which serves as the display case for the jewellery, and the female assistant whose l)r('scnce not only emphasises social class but also lends additional st'xual charge to the scene. This imagery serves to confirm that, quite ,r1.rirrtfrom the recognition of consumption as a gendered and sexualised .rctivity, acts of consumption are implicated within structures of l.rrrguage and communication that work to produce and reinforce rrotions of identity or subjectivity within a gendered economy. I wish to imply here that the bosom awaiting the inscription of jewels tlrrough the intervention of a masculine author is a trope for erotic

16 Marcia Pointon

Valuing the Visual, Visualizing the Valuable 17

stasis of consumption (the act of consuming as never-to-be-completednarrative) and shows consumption's participation in phantasy. Jewellery is physically and materially linked to the body and therefore, as I have demonstrated, is understood to function temporally; the most vivid illustration of this ambiguous relationship occurs when someone cuts off a finger in order to obtain its owner's ring.'t The very closeness of jewellery to the body masques not only the isolation, transience, and vulnerability to castration of the subject, but also acts as a trope for the drive to connect at the level of phantasy. We might remark here that the image invoked by Freud at the centre of his discussion of the characteristics of phantasising which, as he states, bear an important relation to time, gains its rhetorical impact from the metaphor of a necklace: The relation of phantasy to time is in generalvlry important. We may say that it hovers,as it were,betweenthree times- the three momentsof time that our ideation involves. Mental work is linked to some current impression,someprovoking occasionin the presentwhich has been able to rouse one of the subiect'smaior n'ishes.From there it harks back to a memory of an earlier experience(usually an infantile one) in which this wish was fulfilled; and it now createsa situation relating to the future which representsa fulfilment of the wish. What it thus createsis a daydream or phantasy,which carries about it tracesof its origin from the occasionwhich provoked it and from memory. Thus pnst,presentntrd ftture are strung togcther,as it zocre,on the threadof the ztish thnt rurts (F re u d ,I9 8 5 ,p . 1 3 5 ).' ' t hr ou g hth e n r. How, then, might we map this recognition of phantasy and its temporality onto material evidence of acts of jewel consumption? We should, perhaps, start by drawing attention to the fluid, adaptive, and transformative characteristics of the eighteenth-century jewellery market in which goods were ever being re-set, repaired and re-invented into new forms which carried always with them traces of the old in the form of the precious stones at their centre. For the eighteenth-century economy, as is now widely recognised, was a re-cycling economy: human labour was cheap and goods were expellsive. The impact of this on visual values has been less considered. Forethought was given to reusage both at the point of production and at the point of purchase, meaning that objects were perceived as caught in diachrony. Household accolrnts such as those of the Delaval Family in Northumberland, suggest that items were commissioned and delivered with the explicit expectation that they would subsequently be adapted or sold, and also that a commissioned item might be displayed in a shop window prior to delivery as a means of attracting further custom. In other words, latetwentieth-century rhetoric about uniclueness and the proprieties of n n c c o c c i nn

a r p n n f n e r e cq a r ilr z

r r q r ' fr r l w hr'r'r deal i no

w i th

the ci rcu'l ati on

,rrrtl consumption of jewellery in eighteenth-century England. Jewels, r lt'.rtcd by goldsmiths with all eventualities in mind, were loaned and lrirt'cl for special occasions like balls and coronations. |ewellery is thus an rrrrlex of a visual culture of exchange, bequest, gift, loan and credit. Lady \1.rry Wortley Montagu in old age, living in exile in Venice, was ,'r't'.rsionallyseen to wear her iewels for the reason that if she did not it rltrtrlcl be reported that she had pawned them (Halsband,196I, p.265, 1()May 1760).This is a good example of the historical significanceof the I't'-icwelled body and its visibility as a recognised measure of economic ,rrrrlsexual value. Jewellery is therefore a key component of what Peter tlt' Ilolla has called, in relation to this period, 'an entire metaphorics of llrt' cve' (De Bolla, 7996, p. 69). Understanding the affective mode of vrsion which draws into a pattern of social connection jewellers, golclsrniths, merchants, nobility and gentry, foreign tourists, shopkt'cpers, and servants requires recognition that economic value systems tlo nt>t work independently of the historically specific structuring of l.rscinationand desire. A particular casewill illuminate this argument.

I'lrc London jeweller, James Fog, '' to Sir |ohn Hussey Delaval, on -.o," Sir John no more than he has 23 Jurre 7772, saying that he is charging l)ilid a sub-contracted workman to set the stones and that if Lady l)claval 'at any time ... should be pleasedto alter or part with them I will t.rkt' them at same price only deducting the fashion which make no rloubt you'll aprove'. Demonstrating the centrality of visualisation to such commercial transactions, he continues: I took the liberty to show them to the Duke & Duchessof Cumberland who express'dgreat satisfaction& were pleas'd to say they wished I had had the settingof [a portrait of] Her Royal Highnessin Jewels.I am now cloinga very rich pair of diamond Braceletswith ten Rows of large Pearls to each.I irave delivered a fine row of Pearlsfor Necklace[sic] and am making a rich gold Snuff Box to containthe Duke's picfure surrounded with brilliants all which I owe to your kind Recommendationwhich I hopeever to merit the continuanceof. I'hc jeweller concludes his letter with an account that intertwines claims to authority in the world of international high fashion wiih the need for ,rtlaptable arrangements in dress, the desirability of being able to convert it'wellery back to capital, and the even greater desirability of getting his trill paid promptly: The necklaceI have made in three Rows, in the middle are all my large Rosestaperingoff to the end with a row of small on eachside,which has very striking effects& round the neck makes as rich an appearanceas (A

F 18 Marcia Pointon

ValuingtheVisual,Visualizing theValuable19

her Ladyship may, if she pleases take off the sides to brade in her hair occasionally which is now much the taste. The sleeve knots are as light as if tied with a ribband & set in such a manner that no more silver than what is absolutely necessary to secure the diamonds is seen. And as you was so obliging to say you would remit me soon for them (wl-rich will at this juncture be of great service) I have studied the best in my power to render them price-worthy. I was oblig'd to hunt about for 20 Carat of the Diamonds to compleat them & could get nothing under f4 so that I am certain were the Stones to be at any fime taken out thev would always sell to advantage.I shall be glad to hear of their safe arrival ...'o

I t,rkr,tlrt'libertyof sendingthe enclosedarticlesat Mrs. Bryers'sdesire l,,r \'{)rrrl.advsl.rip's approbation.Mrs. B thoughtperhapsyour Ladyship rrrrl',irt lraveno objectionto make up your Ruby necklacewith the beads .r.. nr'\t to ;.rgi11l. They are most suitableand I have taken the liberty to '.lrrrg s()nrcof them with a pr of Braceletsin the manner they are usually rrr,rtlt' trp. lrr cxaminingthe articlesrefurnedthereis one pair of Earrings rr,' ll nrissing.Mrs. Bryers bad me say they were never out of her & that she supposesit must be a mistake& desiredme to I'r,\\('ssi()rl r,'lrrrrrthc originalLrillof parcelsthat it may be comparedwith the things kr' pt

the between the oscillation how passage demonstrates jewellery hypostatizes the body as production and the consumption of fragments (neck, hair, wrist, hand ... ), within narratives of temporality.

I rr o rl.rvs later, he writes agairy enclosing 'the cement ... found very r r rrr11'11i1.11[ for Ladies to repair their ornaments with'.tu llrt, etiolated relay of connections which geographically and lrr,.torit'allvlinks Newcastle and London through intermediaries like the r,rni t,r. or t he Lady's m aid ( M r s. Br yer s) is sust ainedt hr ough t hese act s r,l 11,p11'5,g11tation. Moreover, this workaday but nonetheless insistent l,rrrlirragcrepetitively images the fragmented body within a discourse of rr'tosnition and identification, adornment and transformation, loss, r,'l),rir and recuperation. These are the 'signifiers [which] organize Irrrrrr.rnrelations in a creative way, providing them with structures and ',lr,rPirrgthem'. Thus elements identifiable in the Delaval narrative are lrrrilrly significant within a Lacanian structure of desire: the object of ,lt'sirt'which is a void that cannot be occupied but which is constantly l,t'ing filled by anything that provides consistencyand which is palpable rrr rt'pctition (Lacan's petit objet a); the significance of visualization, of rtl)rr)sentationand especially of metonymy; the importance attributed to rn.rsrlucrade;what Lacan calls 'the radical diversity constituted by r('l)('tition itself'; the concern with'active, passive and reflexive voices' 1I,rci rn,7987,p. 20, p. 67,p. 777, p. 193) .

This

Producer and purchaser of jewellery were lirrked not simply by an exchange of money for goods but by a common - arfd clearly articulated - set of expectations concerning a relational past (the comparative visual and economic value of the Empress of Russia's necklace), a future (including the wearing of the jewels by Lady Delaval and possible hard times), and a set of circumstances that transcend time (forging a connection between Sir John and the much more elevated Duke and Duchess of Cumberland). Whilst Fog manufactures and Delaval purchases, it is not a simple matter in this instance to determine who, if anyone, is the consumer. We can all recognise that consumption is also production (De Certeau, 1.988,chap. iii). But is the consumer (ostensibly Lady Delaval) not merely an adjunct in the correspondence? Sir John wl-ro, we may conjecture, is looking to establish his credentials in the world of high aristocratic court fashion while 'producing' some capital investment is also a consumer. So, too, is the ieweller who, through the manner of his transaction (embedded as it is in narratives replete with other moments of phantasised consumption), lays claim to the future of the jewellery he has made and is selling, both at the level of the practical ('I will take them at the same price') and at the level of the imaginary (the Duke's picture surrounded by brilliants, the neck of the Empress of Russia).'" The first Lady Delaval brought to her marriage a substantial quantity jewellery '' and was actively engaged throughout her life in trading of diamonds against new items. Correspondence concerning ordering, delivering, and paynent is invariably with her husband, as one would expect, but there are many references to, for example, 'a new setting for a ring for my Lady' '' and 'an Account of Silver & Gilt Lace Sold by Cox & Son ... deduct for setting a large Brilliant Pin' ."' While her husband's dealings were exclusively with London iewellers, the second Lady Delaval on her own account seems to have patronised local jewellers. A number are listed (Whitehead, 1778; G1ll, 7976); on 3rd October (ca.

l'ir:ure10.Invoice for work carried out by the London jeweller CharlesBelliard for Mrs. Delaval,February28,7754. IixltreducsTby kind pernrissiorr jointly of Ntzt crctlt City Library and Northumberland Rtcttrd ()ffict:.frorntht Dclatul Mnnuscript tiapositetlirr tlrc Nortlrunrbtrltnd Rr:cortlOffice (2DE 28t1t128)

20 Marcia Pointon

For all their schematic brevity, even the invoices (See Figure 10) sent by jewellers to Lady Delaval's husband are nuanced documents. Thus we learn that on 11 June 7772, Sir John Hussey Delaval bought of |ames Cox 'A Rose Diamond Necklace set with its 175 Diamonds'. The diamonds are listed individually ('for the middle 3 large stones 60 I 3 next size 20 ' and so on). At the same time he purchased 'a pair Sleeve knott set with 1255 Rose Diamonds'. The total cost for these was f620 with the cost of 'fashioning' (ie; making) priced at f21 for each. Likewise on 28 February 7754, Charles Belliard prsented his account for setting, mending, and enlarging several items. These numerical listings not only enforce economic value but also act rhetorically to reproduce the transactions as a psychic endeavour to control what is incalculable and to accumulate what escapespossession. Records like this, kept in much the same vlay ps they are for other kinds of goods, cover the period ca. 7772 to 1807 in the Delaval household, a period of some forty-three years. They are always fragmentary, they always invoke body parts (earrings for ears, bracelets for wrists), and they involve intensely repetitive but always unique acts of counting which, as Lacan states, is a stage prior to - but necessary to the formation of the subject (Lacan, 7987,p.20).'' It would be possibleon consideration to arrive at conclusions relating to patterns of comparative expenditure both within this household unit or with other households. This would be doubtless informative but would bring us no closer to understanding what links the powerful and reiterated period-phantasy of an individual 'covered in diamonds', to the procedures involved in ordering, purchasing, and paying for economically valuable objects of personal adornment. Nor does the notion of 'the conduct of individuals as guided by character consideration' help us (Campbell, 7993, p. 45). The challenge here is one which was identified by Fredric Jameson as 'the difficulty of providing mediations between social phenomena and what must be called private, rather than even merely individual facts' (Jameson,7977,p.338). Reading the documentary evidence of jewellery transactions as linguistically constructed, and interrogating the patterning of ritualised exchange which is manifest in its silences as well as its utterances, is an acknowledgement consumption as a process embedded in visuality without resort to Veblen's universalising account.

I have argued that jewels participate in a privileged cultural relationship to the body and that they are articulated through discourses of the body charged with underwriting the individual's uniqueness as grounded in social class. Jewels therefore function within the dialectic of desire that produces the human 'I'. It is useful in conclusion to turn to th- roerlins nf F{r'qel hv Koidve, wlrich influenced Lacan hin-rself, and

Valuing the Visual, Visualizing the Valuable 21

'l.si^'orr an objective reality procrucesa subjective rearity, transforming 'rrr,l 'assimilating' the 'non I'. Human history, explains'Kojdve, is ,the lrrrt,rl' of desired desires'. But it is not upon things that desire ' r' lrrsively or chiefly operates but upon desire itserf: ,to desire a Desire r" l. 11'.1n1 to substitute o.eserf for the value desired by this Desire,. This l,rrr111l41ion allows for the insistently repetitive chu.acter of the Delaval ;''r't'l archive and enables us to re-lntroduce the protago.ists as lrst,rrical participants in an economic drama. It is, indicals KJjeve, only l'r lrei'rg 'recognised' by.another, by many others (through tile social), tlr,rta human being is reaily human ior himself as well as for others. Nor r" this reducible to a generarised concept of status such as is familiar rr itltin sclciologyand economic historv. 'I'lris requirement to be recognised - this desire for an absolute 'rrrt.rr.mous value for the self - involves a fight for life and death. In the I lt'gt'li.rn dialectic of Master and slave, it is no use if both adversaries l't'r'ishin the fight, for then consciousnessis completely done away with. lt..rrc adversary kills the other, he can no lorrge. Uuiu.og.rired by the .'tlrt'r. Therefore, the autonomy of the othei must be"overcome in ''rrsl'rvement. The consequence of the adversary u"irrg is, Ir.w'cver, that the subject is recognised by one *ho i, "r,rluved not himserf rt'rtrgnised.what is it wo-rth to be recognisea uy a thing? The Master,s tr'rg.dy is that he is fixed in his maste.y; ho.u.r.,ot goi"yo.a himself ,rrrtl change. The slave, o. the other hand, is,ready"fo..irur-rga,, lr., ni, r t'r' being, he is change, transcendence, transfo._uiior,, ,,educltion,,; he rs lr iskrrical becoming at its origin, (Kojdve, 1969,p. 4, 6, 7, lg, 22). -requires 'l'lre purchase of goocis in its essence an extremely sequence of transactions - goods delivered and cash "tr'rightforward r"ricl Br'rtmarkets are theatrical spaces in whr"chhuman ,.rf;".tiuity ur",a r'l.rtity are fought over (Agnew, 79g6). The diarecti.-iip*"il".y 'rrticulated in the exchanges between Delaval and the je*lellers is .rplicable at one level as that of an economically powerful master (l)('laval) and his worker'sraves' who, in .onr"qrr"r,i" of th"i, contror of tlrt'desired objects, in fact exercise power over the master. And this rrruld also be true of any other rorrgi'rt-uft". commodity, such as tea or "rg.r' lyt at a highry charged ry-bolic level it i, gu.mur" that the "rrrrrnodity in question is jewelrery. The rinking (catliecting) nature of t('\\,els. constantly 'in puriiulty re_strung, replicas "of ,o_"on" .process,, jewels, adaptable, mutable, and mythicallylas well as materialry) ''lst"s r .rrrected to the body ensures that this Masier/slave diarectic is a "lrrrggle over the space of identity. Lady Delaval serves as the social or ' rrltural pre-text for this dr1ma. Required for genealogicalpurposes, she r' '.rlso.anecessaryterm in the mainlenun." oiu relatilnar:la; ;osition "rrl-v finally affirmed in the ensravement of hirn *h" t.;;iies the

,ft'si red

/^t-

Valuing the Visual,Visualizingihe Valuable 23

22 Marcia Pointon

phrases are necessary to the identity of the master, are needed as constant reminder of the reality of his adversary. All identification - whether in human experience or at the theoretical level - is based on the taking up of events and obiects into the symbolic order, their being attributed words or names (Fink, 1995, p' 223)' The repetitive social ictivity I have examined purports to take place in the seivice of the feminine. Yet, as we have seen, the masculine dialogue that takes place between a Charles Belliard and a Lord Delaval (or between anonymous gentlemen represented on a Sdvres plate) is set in opposition to i sub-text which is that of Lady Delaval with her cement to repair ornaments, her bartering and part-exchanging. The destination for ali this jewellery is ostensibly the female body; it is as a defense against this that the iepetitious masculine actions are devised in a classic '" . protective *e.harlirrn against lack. Taking account of this structure we may understand this_jewellery narrativelby which I intend all elements of representation including the imagined wearing of the article which may or ma-y n9t exist) at a historical level as a master-servant dialectic in which goldsmiths and jewellers are positioned as agents of moneyed nobility But this is also a psychic economy sustained by the visualisation of fragments inviting a never-to-be-realised plenitude. The ambiguity of the jewel with which Lacan identified the gaze is here demonstrable. The bills for jewellery represent artefacts outside the field of vision as a catalogue of bit-parts, which must be visualised as assemblagesof precious stones, temporarily masquing the fearful vacuity of desire, in a script which only death - the ultimate obiect of desire - both terminates, and justifies' ll

Notes 1. sincere thanks to Aris sarafianosfor first drawing my attention to Lacan's jewel metaphor, to David Lomas and Paolo Palladino for reading and commentrngon an early draft of this text, and to Anthony Easthope,Helen Hills and scott wilson for their encouragingand insightful reading and for their creativesuggestionswith regard to this essay' d nroi 2. The italics are mine. The French original reads:'Dans ce qui prdsente jeu la lumiire tla quelque touiours est regard est rlela lwnidre,cequi commeespace qui itait lit tout h l'heurenu coeurtle et rle I'opacitd.C'esttoujoursce miroitemettt nn petiiehistoire,c'esttoujourscequi rnercticnt,en chnquepoint,d'1tredcrnn,de . Pour,toutdire,lepoint qui Ied{borde la lumiire comntcchntoiement, faireaTtparatre 'de (Lacan, 1973,pp ' 89-90) dtr pnrticipetoujoursdet'ambiguitd ioyeau'' reg:nrd objectsin such a natural that incorporate defined'artefacis has 3. trturiir.rKemp way that thlir original configuration remains aPParent'even though they bespeakingeniousartificeas 'cultural migrators'(pp' 178-9) ,

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l evel

of

tlrt'orists, including Adam smith; De Bolla's terms for the different modes ,rrrd purposes of the eye governed by various organisations is ,socioscopic, 1l \' tlolla, 1996). l .rrn grateful to Grenville Turner for explaining this process to me; the rli.rmond has a refractive index of 2.5 compared, for example, to water which rs 1.3. Ilris aspect of consumption has brought into the field psychologists and ,rrrthropologists. For a survey of cross-disciplinary interest, see Miller, 1995. lhc pioneering study is McKendrick et al (1982). More recent writers have pl.rccd the origins of the consumer revolution earlier. See, for example, Itt.rnringham and Brewer (1995) and Pointon (1992, chap.I). I ltt Lortdon Ettening standard 11 september carried the headline 'It was an l'.rrgagementRing'. ( )n the importance of the first earring, and of earrings generally within soci.rl rituals among young women in this period see pointon (1999). This l,,rrticular theme is the subject also of David Wilkie's painting, The First I uring, 1835, Tate Gallery, London. There are many examples of women rvrth boxes, not all of which connect iconographically to the Magdalen story, .rs inr example with Palma Vecchio's Portrait of a young Wotnan in the Ihyssen Collection in Madrid. Called 'La Bella', the image shows a woman rvt.aring no jewels but with hands delving into a jewel box from which riblrons and a gold chain emerge. In van der Mieris's Die wiederekunung der l'rrziLtsaof 7709 in the Sempergalerie, Dresden, women quarrel over the t olrtcnts of the jewel box prominently displayed on the table. Renoir,s l)()rtrait of Gabrielle seated with her hands in a jewel box positionecl in her lalr fcrllows these earlier models (Gabrielle aux bijoux, ca. 1910, private trrllection). It is worth noting that Lacan's interpretation of Hamlet involves recognition trf the pun between'foil' and 'feuille', meaning 'a container for something lrrtrcious,ie; a jewel case'. (Lacan, 7972,p.33) lhc phrase 'covered in jewels' or 'covered in diamonds' is a leitmotif of t'ighte.enth-century English anecdote. See, for example, the description of Quccn Charlotte at her Drawing Room in1787 'dazzlingly fine in Diamonds, slrc was covered in them' (Miss Dee to Lady Harcourt, 1787 in Harcourt, nd., vi, p. 326). l lris trope is vividly exploited by Middleton and Rowley in The Changeling ( ltr23), where in Act II sc. ii De Flores, having murdered Alonso, cuts off his linger with a ring on it which turns out to be Beatrice/s engagement gift to Alonso ('Ha ! what's that / Threw sparkles in my eye? Oh, 'tis a diamond / Ile wears upon his finger: it was well found, / This will approve the work, ivhat, so fast on? / Not part in death? I'll take a speedy course then, / Finger ,rnd all shall off [cuts off the finger] So, now I'll clear / The passage from all srrspector fear'). In Act III sc. iv Alonso gives the ring and finger to Beatrice, saying 'And I'm sure dead men have no use of jewels. / He was as loath to p.rrt with't, for it stuck / As if the flesh and it were both one substance,. lvhile this fictive account points up the phallic elements in the act of theft .rnd mutilation, documentary accounts exist describing similar incidents. St't', for example, H. Walpole: ' ... in the hurry of the retreat from St. Maloes

Valuing the Visual and Visualizing the Valuable 25

2'1 Marcia Pointon generously sent back an old woman's finger and gold ring which one of our ioldiers had cut off, the Duc d'Aiguillon has sent a cartel-ship with the prisoner-spoons', Horace Walpole to Thomas Mann, 8 fuly 1758 (Walpole, 1960,xxi, p. 52). 13. My italics. I am indebted to David Lomas for drawing to my attention the importance of this passage. 14. James Fog is not identifiable through apprenticeship records at Goldsmith's Hall, though an Amos Fogg was aPPrenticed in 1718 and a John Fogg in 1809. Nor is he listed in Heal (Heal, 1935). A Fogg bought a number of lots at the sale following the death of Que'en Charlotte, Christie's 77-726 May 7879. Furthermore, Bury mentions an agent named Robert Fogg active in this period (Bury,7997, i, p. 17). 15. James Fog, London, to Sir John Delaval 23 fune 7772,}i/.5. Delaval Papers 2 DE I 3412l 65. Northumberland County Record Office' 16. The Delaval household accounts contain a conl'idetable amount of material relating to jewellery. John Hussey Delaval succeeded his brother, sir Francis Drake Delaval in 7777 and was created a baron in 1786.He married in 1750 as his first wife, the Gateshead-born Susanna, widow of fohn Potter, Secretary of State for lreland by whom hc- had five children. Following her death in 7783,he married Susanna Knight of London' He died in 1808, his widow surviving him until 1822. Tlre Delavals were big spenders; their very considerable income from the glass bottle factory, collieries, saltworks, brickyards and other industrial enterprises (for which the harbour at Seaton sluice, under the guidance of brother Thomas who had studied in Hamburg and Dresden was improved for the use of a fleet of small vessels) was nonetheless not always sufficient for their r-reeds.In 1,779it was estimated that the estate paid duty to the crown of t25,000 in one year. The new harbour cost €10,000and took three years to build but produced dividends until weather, sanding up, and limitations on the size of ships that could be accommodated caused maior problems (Foster, 1948, copv in Newcastle-uTyne local history library). 17. Delaval MSS. (DE.31I 10162). 18. Delaval MSS. (DE.39l 4 I 23) datecl 7779. 19. Delaval MSS. (DE. 39 14125)fames Cox was a well-establishedieweller and watch-maker, with an address in Shoe Lane, who produced elaborate pieces of jewellery work for the Far Eastern markets. He was famous for his shortlived but celebrated Museum of automata and iewellecl artifacts that was situated in spring Gardens in the late I770s. I am grateful to Helen Clifford for allowing mc. to see her entry on Cox for the new Dictionary of National Biography. 20 . De'lav alM SS.( 2. DE/ 3413115and 43 ) . 21.'The in'rportant thing, for us, is that we are seeking here - before any formation of the subject, of a subject who thinks, who situates himself in it the level at which there is counting, things are counted, and in this countilrg he who counts is always included. It is only later that the subiect has tcr recognize himself as such, recognize himself as he who counts' (Lacan, 7987, P'20).

l(cferences \r'.r'\\', Jean-Christophe1986:worlds Apnrt: theMnrkct nnd tlrc Thentcrirr Anqlo\ trtrricnttThought1550-1750,Cambridge: Cambridge University press. \ 1r|11'[t,Jovce 1993:Consumprtionin early modern social thought. In Brewer J. .rrrtl Il. Porter (eds), corr>-rlrytiottnd tlrc worltl of Gootls,London and New Yrrrk: Routledge. lr'rr.rrllt',ceorges 1985:The Notion of Expenditure (1933).In ccorgc:-Bataille, |isirrrr.s o.fExcess: Selected Writings,7927-1939,A. Stoekl et al. (eds), \lirrrrcapolis:University of Minnesota Press. lr, rrrirrglrarn,Am-r and Brewer, Johrr 1995:The Consumptiotrof Culture 1600_1g00. Ittrtt,gt, Oltject,Texf, London and New York: Routledge. lr,', rrrk, Rol'rert1993'.Consumlrtiorr, London and New york: Rclutledge. I t, lirlla, Peter 1996:The Visibility of Visuality. In T. Brenna' and M. Jay (eds), f isirlr lrr Cotttext,New York and London: Routledge. li,,rr f1-f.1.n6r"n, Mikkel 1991.:Lacan.TheAbsoluteMaster,trans. D. Brick, \t.r rrfbrd : Stanford University Press. Iirrr,,, Sl.rirley1991:leuellerq1789-1910:The lrternationnlErn, Woodbridge: .\ntrque CollectorsClub. , ,rrrrl,ircll,Colin 1993:Understanding traditional and modern patterns of , rrrsumption in eighteenth-centurvEngland: a character-actionapproach. ln I lircwer and R. P.rter (eds), Ctrrrsrrrr4ttittn atrtl thaworrtr Ltfcoods, London ,rrrtlNerv York: Routledge. t ,rrrrl'[rt'll,Colin 1987:TIrc RomanticEthic ttndtfu spirit of Modern Consumerisn, ( )rlorcl: Blackwell Publishers. I tr' ( i,1[g.1rr,Michel 7988:Tlrc Prttcticeof EuarytlaryLife (198!, Berkeley, Los \rrgcles,London: University of California press. , ,,\\ l('\', Abraham 1807:Thc Dni,ideis,The PocticnlWorksttf Abrtthnn Corulcy, lilll's British Poets,Book IV. I t, rrrr'.I)aniel 1993:Moll Flturdr:rs (1722\,tNare.Wordsworth. I rrrl..llruce 1995:The real causeof repetition. ln R. Felclstein,B. Firrk, and M. l,r,r.trs(eds),Rerldirrg Seninnr XI: Lacan'sFttur FwrdamentnlConccttts of l' .viltontaltlsis,Albany: SttrteUniversitv of New York press. I lr rrlllr{, Ian 1988:Dinrnorrtls arc Foret,er(1956),Sevenoaks:Coronet. L ' r, r . Ii. A. 1948:The Industrial Devekrpment o[ the seaton sluice Hinterlancl rrr tlrt' Later 18th Century, unpublished Ph.D. thesis,University of Newcastle r l l ) r ) l l ' l -V l ' l e .

I r, rr.l, signrundl9TT: Dora (1905)Irr CnseHistoricsI, pelican Freud Librarv. I l . r r n r o r r t'l sw o r thl ): e n g u i n . I r, rr,l, Sigrnund 1985:Creative writers a'd Day-dreaming (1908).rnsigrttrnrtr I r, rttl. Art and Litarature,The Pelican FreuclLibrary, vol. l.l, I l . rr r r r o r r r l sw r r r thl :e n g u i r r . I Lrttt'ttttfr,Patricia 7997:Cultural Aesthetics: Rertoissance Literaturenntlthe Practice ()ntnnrcnt,Chicago: Chicago University press. "t ',rttinl London: privately printed 'll \l /\.v. 7976:A Directoryof NuucastleGoldsntitlts,

26 Marcia Pointon

from theAir, Grigson,Geoffrey1955:The Pleasuresof Jewellery(1950).ln Essays London: Routledgeand KeganPaul. Halsband,Robert 1967:TheLifeof LadyMary wortleyMontagu,oxford: oxford University Press. Oxford: Parker& Co' Harcourt,E.W. (ed) n.d.: TheHarcourtPapers, Cambridge:Cambridge Heal, Ambrose 1935:TheLondonGoldsmiths1200-1800, University Press. A Historyof sunptuary Lazu,London: Hunt, Alan 1996:Couentingthe Passions. Macmillan. Marxism, ]ameson,Fredric 1977:Imaginaqyand Symbolic in Lacan: French subject.lnYale the of Problem Psychoanalyticcriticism, and the r.

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S t u a l es, JJ I ) o .

Kemp, Martin 1995:Wrought by No Artist's Hand: the Natural, the Artificial, the Exotic, and the scientific in some Artefacts from the Renaissance.In C. New Havdn ar;d London: Yale Farago(ed),ReframingtheRenaissaLnce, University Press. on the Kojdve,Alexinder 1969:htroduction to tlrcReadingof Hegel.Lectu,res A' Bloom (ed),J'H' by RaymontlQueneau' 'Phenomeriology of Spirit',assembled NicholsJr. (trans) New York and London: BasicBooks' Lacan,J-A.Miller (ed),Paris:Editions de lacques Lacan,jacques7973:Le Seminiare du Seuil. s'1977:Desireand the Interpretationof Desirein Hamlet.ln Yale Lacan,Jacque SSI 56,7977 FrenchStudies, trans.A. ofPsycho-Analysis, Concepts FourFundamental Lacan,Jacques1987:The Penguin' (1979) Harmondsworth: Sheridan ThellluminatingDiary of a Professional preferBlondes. Loos,Anita t992: Gentlemen Lady(1925),Harmondsworth:Penguin. McKendrick,Neil and Brewer,)ohn and Plumb,J.H.1982 TheBirth of a Consumer England,London: Europa. of Eighteenth-Century society:TheComntercialisntion London and New York: Consumptiort. Miller Daniel (ed) 1995:Acknowledging Routledge. andRepresentation Women,Possession Pointon,Mircia 1997:Strategies for Showirrg: Press. university oxford oxford: 1665-1800, Culture visual in English Pointon,"Marcia1998:Wearing Memory: Mourning, Jewelleryand the Body' In G. Ecker,(ed),TrauerTragen,Munich: Fink Verlag' Pointon,Marcia 1999:Jewelleryin Eighteenth-centuryEngland.In M. Bergand Manchester: Culturein Europe1650-1850, H. Clifford (eds\,Cortsutner ManchesterUniversitYPress. and M' Quinet, Antonio 1995:The Sazeas an obiect'In R' Feldstein,B' Fink, of Concepts Fwtdamental Four SeminarXI: Lncan's faanus(eds) Reatling Press' New York of University State Albany: Psqchoanalysis, Rouquet,JeanL755:ThePresentstateof the Artsin England,London: J. Nourse. Simmel,Georg,1992:Excursiiber den Schmuck(1908)'ln Soziologie: O. Rammstedt(ed), iiberdieFormender Vergesellschaftung, LJntersuchingen Verlag' Surkampf Main: am Frankfurt ii, GeorgSimmel:Cesamtausgabe, p\;lssophie Gesamtausgabe, Simmel: (1905). In Georg der Mode rg1995: Simmel,"Geo x, Frankfurt am Main: SurkampfVerlag.

Valuing the Visual and Visualizingthe Valuable 27 ',rrrrllr, Adam 1896 Lectureson lustice, Police,Reaenueand Arms, deliaeredin the I I trt ucrsity of Glasgowby Adam smith, reportedby a student in 1763, E. Cannan 1t'tl), Oxford: Clarendon. \ r'lrlt'n, Thorstein 1,925:TheTheoryof the Leisure Class:Arr Economicstudy of Irr:!il117io11s, London: Allen and Unwin. \ \ ,rI l,r rft', Horace 1960: The Yale Edition of Hornce Walpole,s Correspondencr,W.S. I nvis (ed) London and New Havenl Oxford University press and yale I Irrivcrsity Press. \\ .rl..lr,Clare 1995: The design of London goldsmiths, shops in the early ,'iglrtcenth century. In D. Mitchell (ed), Gotdsmiths,siluersmithsand Bankers: Ittttoittrtionand the Transferof SkilI 7550-1750,Stroud: Alan Sutton and t rrivcrsity of London Centre for Metropolitan History. \\ lrrtt'lrt'.rd7778:witelrcad'sNewcastleDirectoryfor 1778,printed by Tho. Angus, Nicholas's Churchyard, and sold by all the Booksellers. "t \l.rrcia Pointon is Pilkington Professor of History of Art at the I rrr't'rsity of Manchester. Her most recent books are Hanging the Head: t','ttrrtilttre and social Fornntion in Eighteenth-Century England (1993) and '/rrrlr',qrr'sfor showittg: women, Possession and Representation in English

\ t.tr,rlCulture1665-1800(1997).she is currently working on the display , rrltrrrt'ofjewelsand jewelleryin earlymodernEurope.