Decorative art and financial speculation
Collectables from the First International Stock Market Crisis (1720)
This research project examines Dutch collectables depicting or commenting on the first international stock market crisis of 1720. Objects vary from porcelain plates and bottles, glasses, tobacco boxes to furniture. These objects gave shape to an international crisis experience.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The crisis of 1720 is not as well-known in the history of the Dutch Republic as it is in that of England and France, where, respectively, the South Sea Bubble and the Mississippi Bubble were significant events. The Dutch Republic was, however, a centre of knowledge production for this crisis. In fact, the most extensive work on the bubbles, Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid (The Great Act of Folly), which contains engravings, plays, pamphlets and much more, was published in 1720 in Amsterdam. It situates the windhandel within and as a theatre – a framing that needs to be taken into account to understand Dutch critique within the context of international critique of financial speculation.
AIM OF THE PROJECT
This project will look into the critique of financial speculation in the decorative arts, and is part of a dissertation. While it is to be expected that paper objects espond to this kind of event, it is perhaps more surprising to find that long-lasting collectables such as porcelain or even items of furniture comment on this crisis. In this project these objects will be studied to understand their material qualities, use, motives and relation to the paper objects. Just like the paper objects, these collectables often use theatrical motifs such as commedia dell’arte to shape, contest and give meaning to financial speculation.
RESEARCHERS
Suzanne Kooloos
s.kooloos@rijksmuseum.nl
Andrew W. Mellon Fellow
Femke Diercks
f.diercks@rijksmuseum.nl
Head of Decorative Arts
Frits Scholten
f.scholten@rijksmuseum.nl
Senior Curator of Sculpture
PARTNERS AND SPONSORS
This Fellowship is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. This Fellowship is part of the Rijksmuseum Fellowship Programme.