‘Telling Objects’ – Miniatures as an Interactive Medium in Eighteenth-Century Female European Court Portraits

Abstract

Miniatures were a popular medium of early modern material court culture and representation, symbolising social, dynastic or political affiliation while, at the same time, evoking a special bond between wearer and object. They were used as diplomatic gifts, as commemorative tokens of highly emotional events such as births, marriages and deaths, as substitutes for absent or deceased persons as well as proxy in marriage negotiations and betrothal ceremonies. By integrating these small objects – as a picture in a picture – into large-scale portraits, they were directly contextualised with the sitter, publicly conveying personal or political messages, thus becoming interactive telling objects. Set in sumptuous jewellery, as pendants, brooches or bracelets, they were worn as symbols of luxury and status as well as badges of sentiment, loyalty or propaganda. As objects of virtue, like souvenirs or snuffboxes, they were shown and perceived as items of economic, material and symbolic value but could also operate as hidden clues or dynastic emblems. In addition, the allusion to their origins as gifts or heirlooms, i.e. to the process of giving and receiving, as well as the open display of wearing, handling or regarding not only constituted a relation between sitter and object but also implemented a narrative structure. This essay would like to open the discourse on this specific interactive potential of miniatures by analysing different modes of display and context based on selected eighteenth-century female European court portraits.