Conference | Boiseries: Decoration and Migration
From the conference website:
Boiseries: Decoration and Migration from the Eighteenth Century to the Present
Camden Place, Chislehurst (Kent), 12–13 January 2023
Organized by Lindsay Macnaughton and Laura Jenkins
This two-day conference investigates the cultural and commercial migrations of French eighteenth-century boiseries from their places of production in Paris and the Bâtiments du Roi to the drawing rooms of Britain and the United States. It will be the first major study of boiseries in the context of transatlantic cultural history and will build on the landmark studies of panelling as architectural salvage by Bruno Pons (1995, 2001) and the late John Harris (2007). The conference will bring together international experts and emerging scholars in the fields of art, architecture, history, and museums and heritage management and will form part of a programme of events marking the 150th anniversary of the death of Napoleon III at Camden Place.
Camden Place, where the conference will be held, is an English country house whose history and interiors have been shaped by the migration of people and decoration for over 300 years. Home to Chislehurst Golf Club, the Grade II* listed building features architectural elements by the British architects George Dance the Younger (1741–1825) and James ‘Athenian’ Stuart (1713–1788), and played host to the French Imperial court after the fall of the Empire in 1870. French chimney pieces, boiseries from the eighteenth-century Château de Bercy (demolished in 1862), and heavily carved oak panelling are among the elements that make up the house’s many layers, testifying both to the eclectic tastes of its nineteenth-century occupants and to the multifaceted, and multinational, histories of many English country houses.
Organised by Dr Lindsay Macnaughton (University of Buckingham) and Laura C. Jenkins (The Courtauld Institute of Art), with support from Chislehurst Golf Club, The Chislehurst Society, The University of Buckingham, and The Society for the Study of French History.
Tickets are available here. For enquiries, please contact lindsay.macnaughton@buckingham.ac.uk or laura.jenkins@courtauld.ac.uk.
T H U R S D A Y , 1 2 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3
10.00 Registration
10.30 Introduction by Lindsay Macnaughton
10.45 Session 1 | The Cultural Impact of French Émigrés in Britain
Moderated by Lindsay Macnaughton
• Camden Place as a Headquarters of Bonapartism, 1870–1879 — Thomas C. Jones (Senior Lecturer, The University of Buckingham)
• The French Imperial Family in Exile: The Display of Collections in Camden Place, 1870–1880 — Rebecca Walker (Independent Scholar)
• Lord Hertford’s Room from the Château de Bercy — Félix Zorzo (Curatorial Assistant, The Wallace Collection)
12.45 Lunch
1.45 Session 2 | Moving Rooms: Markets and Merchants
Moderated by Mark Westgarth
• The Valued Fragment: Georges Hoentschel as Dealer in Historic Interiors — Ulrich Leben (Independent Scholar)
• Decorating on a Grand Scale: British Professional Decorators of the Early 20th Century — Pat Wheaton (Independent Scholar)
• Saviours or Gravediggers of Panelling? Some Thoughts on the Role of Merchants — François Gilles (PhD Candidate, Université de Versailles St-Quentin-en-Yvelines)
3.45 Tea and Coffee Break
4.15 Keynote Lecture
• The Archaeology of Camden Place: An Architectural Conundrum — Lee Prosser (Curator of Historic Buildings, Historic Royal Palaces)
5.15 Closing Remarks
6.00 Drinks Reception
F R I D A Y , 1 3 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3
9.30 Tours of Camden Place (Registrants)
10.00 Registration
10.30 Opening Remarks by Laura Jenkins
10.45 Session 3 | Staging the Past: Boiseries and ‘Period Rooms’
Moderated by Laura Jenkins
• History of the Paneling of the State Bedroom of the Hôtel de Chevreuse et de Luynes in Paris, 1765–2014 — Frédéric Dassas (Senior Curator, Musée du Louvre)
• The ‘Roman’ Petit Salon of the Duc d’Aumont and the 18th-Century Origins of the Period Room — Gabriel Wick (Lecturer, NYU Paris)
• ‘Un Décor Authentique et Harmonieux’: Framing and Aestheticising the Cognacq-Jay Collection — Barbara Lasic (Lecturer, Sotheby’s Institute of Art)
12.45 Lunch
1.45 Session 4 | Franco-British Collectors of Boiseries
Moderated by Helen Jacobsen
• British Duc d’Aumale: The Boiseries of Orleans House, from Twickenham to Chantilly — Mathieu Deldicque (Director, Musée Condé, Château de Chantilly)
• Contextualising the Rothschild Collection of Panelling at Waddesdon Manor (provisional title) — Mia Jackson (Curator of Decorative Arts, Waddesdon Manor)
• Uncovering Identity and a Nationalist Narrative: The Imported Interiors at Harlaxton Manor — Carter Jackson (PhD Candidate, Boston University)
3.45 Tea and Coffee Break
4.15 Session 5 | Reuse and Reinterpretation
Moderated by Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth
• Past Lives: The Mona Von Bismarck House, 34 Avenue de New York, Paris — Melany Telleen (Independent Scholar)
• Boiserie Alternatives: Wallcoverings in Glass Beads, Straw, Lacquer, Porcelain, and Feathers — Maureen Cassidy-Geiger (Independent Scholar)
5.45 Closing Remarks
6.00 Tours of Camden Place (Registrants)
Enfilade 
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