Boiseries: Decoration and Migration from the 18th Century to the Present

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 150^th 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 University of Buckingham, The Furniture History Society, Oliver Charles Associates, and The Society for the Study of French History.

Special thanks to The Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers, Chislehurst Rotary Club, and contributing members of Camden Place Lodge, The Chislehurst Society, Ovation Data Ltd., and Chislehurst Golf Club.