{"id":1488,"date":"2019-08-22T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/?p=1488"},"modified":"2020-02-20T16:30:57","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T16:30:57","slug":"material-culture-adam-and-eve-powder-flask-austria-ca-1600","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/?p=1488","title":{"rendered":"Material Culture \u2013 Adam and Eve Powder Flask, Austria ca. 1600"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tom\nUnderwood, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, has\nwritten the following blog entry on the Adam\nand Eve Powder Flask<\/em> for the Introduction to Historical Research module. Tom\ndiscusses the flask\u2019s importance as a marker of social standing in the Renaissance\nperiod. The module is co-ordinated by Dr Maria Cannon, Lecturer in Early Modern\nHistory at Portsmouth.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Abrahamic religions Adam and Eve are\nthe symbol of life, the creation of humankind, the genesis of man. Firearms,\non the other hand, are representative of quite the opposite, death, destruction\nand a complete collapse of humanity that would not look entirely out of place\nin the Book of Revelation. Whilst this seventeenth-century Austrian powder\nflask did not intend such a sardonic juxtaposition, it does bring into question\nhow objects mediate past ideas and experiences, not only of the specialist that sculpted,\nengraved or designed them, but those that saw and interpreted the appearance of\nsuch aesthetic items. This blog, which will centre on a flask that once\nbelonged to a member of the zu Welsberg family of the Tyrol, shall asses the\nmulti-dimensions of material culture which can offer not only visual, but\nscented and tactile manifestations of the past. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Adam and Eve Powder Flask<\/em> held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Image: Wikimedia<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To truly understand the nature, and more\nimportantly extract the meaning, of this Austrian powder flask which once formed\npart of a garniture of firearms, one must first penetrate and conceptualise the\nworld in which it was created. In a Renaissance world, a time of genuine\nmaterialist exceptionalism, both Michelle O\u2019Malley and Evelyn Welch argue that\nconsumption and consumerism was an \u2018arena\u2019, where not only culture was fought\nover but where social standing was won and lost. [2] Ulinka Rublack has suggested\nthat early modern people created a sense of being, not just through a\ncross-comparison with other people, work, space, or religion, but through a\n\u2018creative exchange with the material world\u2019. [3] Rublack argues that, as such,\nwhen historians begin to explore past societies, they must first concern\nthemselves with the \u2018life of objects\u2019 and the part material culture played in\npeople\u2019s lives. [4] Clothes, as with other wearable objects like the powder\nflask, performed an immediate role in constructing identities, for they impart\ntheir aesthetic qualities that enables the representation of taste, values and\nspirituality. [5] Public appearance established and up-held identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outward projection of materiality enabled\na conduit for not only how past people perceived themselves within their\nsociety, but how they wanted to be perceived by others. [6] Ludmilla Jordanova\nargues that \u2018sight\u2019 is crucial, not only for the historian in understanding the\nmaterial world, but how it was understood in past societies. [7] It is\nimportant to distinguish objects as an entity which it is, in its very design,\nintended to be looked at. What is seen, however, and how it was meant to be\nseen, Jordanova stresses, necessitates historians\u2019 attention. [8] Decoding the\niconography of the powder flask can offer significant insights into how this\nparticular piece of material culture should be read. Carved in relief with Adam\nand Eve flanking either side of the tree of Life, the image closely resembles\nthe work on the same subject by Albrecht D\u00fcrer. [9] Employing a similar style\nimplies that the flask dates from the time of D\u00fcrer\u2019s revival in the early\nseventeenth century. [10] Whilst the flask has the more overt religious and\nartistic overtones associated with space and culture, the piece is also\nembedded with a more personal meaning. Towards the top of the piece is the\nquartered arms, partnered by the initials I.Z.W., which indicates that the\nowner is likely a member of the zu Welsberg family of the Tyrol; furthered by\nthe eagle displayed at the bottom. [11] Angus Patterson argues that of all the\nobjects that were on offer during the renaissance, none of them spoke more\nfirmly of a nobleman\u2019s honour than his armaments. [12] In this sense, the flask\nis suggestive of more than just O\u2019Malley and Welch\u2019s interpretation that\nobjects are a marker of Renaissance consumerism, items bought simply as\npossessions of value. The flask shows that noblemen were not just equipped for\nbattle, they were dressed for fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arjun Appadurai has argued that objects, much\nlike people, have social lives. [13] Appadurai explains that material objects\nexist between desire and pleasure, human interaction endows these meanings onto\nobjects through ownership. [14] David Gaimster, Tara Hamling and Catherine\nRichardson argue that the exploration of the material world, people\u2019s\npossessions, clothing and household, enables an understanding of past people\u2019s\ndaily life, their experiences and fundamentally the way they saw themselves in,\nand their responses to, the societies that they lived. [15] Gaimster et <\/em>al. argue that early modern material\nculture was \u2018implicated in the negotiation of a rapidly changing social\nstructure\u2019. [16] The authors question the extent materiality appropriated\nsocial difference and how material culture enabled the negotiation of societal\nplace in distinguishing different groups from one another. [17] As such Gaimster\net <\/em>al. challenge whether material\nculture can be isolated into \u2018popular\u2019 and \u2018elite\u2019. [18] One can argue that practicality\nis a huge determinant in this debate. The powder flask, whilst it is, strictly\nspeaking, equipped to fulfil its designed role, it is likely that it was\nintended for display rather than use. [19] Carved staghorn with silver-gilt\nmounts, it is, to say the very least, a grandiose display of opulence. [20]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst material culture can provide a cultural\nunderstanding of the lower sections of early modern societies that may not\nalways be present in other forms of historical source, objects themselves are\nnot free from certain limitations. Appadurai argues that commodities are\n\u2018culturally regulated\u2019, the interpretation of objects can be manipulated. [21]\nIn this sense, Jordanova argues that it is not just the production process that\nshould be analysed by the historian to uncover hidden meanings, but the forms\nof display and use. [22] With its personalised inscriptions and iconography, the\npowder flask is clearly a commissioned piece designed and intended for its\nowner; not a piece for practical use, but an object of wealth, a marker of\nsocial standing. Understanding the production of an object can be important in\nthe analytical methodology of the historian as each object had and has a\npurpose, and likewise a life-span. [23] Adrienne D. Hood has argued that, from\nthis perspective, historians are not \u2018equipped\u2019 to undertake object centred\nresearch because a reliance on traditional written documents will always take\ncontrol. [24] Gaimster, Hamling and Richardson believe that an\ninter-disciplinary approach to material culture, employing the disciplinary\nskills of art history and archaeology, can further the functionality of objects\nin understanding past social structures, practices and cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To conclude, objects, as with other forms of\nhistorical source, are subject to human interaction, the ideas that passed the\nmaker\u2019s consciousness are inscribed in the item, entwined with the social\npractices of historical societies. In the case of the flask, an object produced\nout of a commission, it reflects the nature of an early consumerist society\nthat was not only driven to buy material goods in an exhibition of wealth, but\nto reassert honour and social standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1] Unknown, Adam and Eve Powder Flask<\/em>, V&A museum (234-1854); Adrienne D.\nHood, \u201cMaterial Culture: The Object\u201d, chapter eleven in History Beyond the Text: A Student’s Guide to Approaching Alternative\nSources<\/em>, Sarah Barber and Corinna Peniston-Bird eds., 176-198, (London:\nRoutledge, 2009), 177-178.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2] Michelle\nO\u2019Malley and Evelyn Welch, \u201cIntroduction\u201d in The Material Renaissance<\/em>, Michelle O\u2019Malley and Evelyn Welch eds.,\n1-10, (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007), 3; Mary Hollingsworth,\n\u201cCoins, Cloaks and Candlesticks: The Economics of Extravagance\u201d, chapter twelve\nin The Material Renaissance<\/em>, Michelle\nO\u2019Malley and Evelyn Welch eds., 260-287, (Manchester: Manchester University\nPress, 2007), 260-262.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3] Ulinka Rublack, Dressing Up: Cultural Identity in\nRenaissance Europe<\/em>, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 3; Erin\nSullivan and Andrew Wear, \u201cMateriality, Nature and the Body\u201d, chapter nine in The Routledge Handbook of Material Culture\nin Early Modern Europe<\/em>, 141-157, (London: Routledge, 2016), 143-145;\nGiorgio Riello, \u201cGlobal Things: Europe\u2019s Early Modern Material Transformation\u201d,\nchapter one in The Routledge Handbook of\nMaterial Culture in Early Modern Europe<\/em>, David Gaimster, Tara Hamling and\nCatherine Richardson eds., 29-45, (London: Routledge, 2016), 34.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4] Rublack, Dressing Up<\/em>, 3-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5] Nicole Boivin, Material Cultures, Material Minds: The Impact of Things in Human\nThought, Society, and Evolution<\/em>, (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2008),\n30; David Grummitt, \u201cArms and Armour\u201d, chapter thirteen in The Routledge Handbook of Material Culture in Early Modern Europe<\/em>,\nDavid Gaimster, Tara Hamling and Catherine Richardson eds., 196-205, (London:\nRoutledge, 2016), 197-198.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6] Erin Sullivan\nand Andrew Wear, \u201cMateriality, Nature and the Body\u201d, chapter nine in The Routledge Handbook of Material Culture\nin Early Modern Europe,<\/em> 141-157, (London: Routledge, 2016), 141-142; Susan\nVincent, Dressing the Elite: Clothes in\nEarly Modern England<\/em>, (Oxford: Berg, 2003), 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7] Ludmilla\nJordanova, The Look of the Past: Visual\nand Material Evidence in Historical Practice<\/em>, (Cambridge: Cambridge\nUniversity Press, 2012), 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8] Jordanova, Look of the Past<\/em>, 2-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9] Unknown, Flask<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10] Unknown, Flask<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11] Unknown, Flask<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[12] Angus Patterson,\nFashion and Armour in Renaissance Europe:\nProud Lookes and Brave Attire<\/em>, (London: V&A Publishing, 2009), ii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[13] Arjun Appadurai,\n\u201cCommodities and the Politics of Value\u201d, introduction in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective<\/em>,\nArjun Appadurai ed., 3-63, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 3-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[14] Appadurai,\n\u201cCommodities\u201d, 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[15] Tara Hamling and Catherine Richardson,\n\u201cIntroduction\u201d in Everyday Objects:\nMaterial and Early Modern Material Culture and its Meaning<\/em>, Tara Hamling\nand Catherine Richardson eds., 1-26, (Surrey: Ashgate, 2010), 1-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[16] David Gaimster,\nTara Hamling and Catherine Richardson, \u201cIntroduction\u201d, in The Routledge Handbook of Material Culture in Early Modern Europe<\/em>,\nDavid Gaimster, Tara Hamling and Catherine Richardson eds., 3-28, (London:\nRoutledge, 2016), 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[17] Gaimster,\nHamling and Richardson, \u201cIntroduction\u201d, 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[18] Gaimster,\nHamling and Richardson, \u201cIntroduction\u201d, 22-23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[19] Unknown, Flask<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[20] Unknown, Flask<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[21] Appadurai,\n\u201cCommodities\u201d, 3-4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[22] Jordanova, Look of the Past<\/em>, 5-7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[23] Karin Dannehl,\n\u201cObject Biographies: From Production to Consumption\u201d, chapter eight in History and Material Culture: A Student’s\nGuide to Approaching Alternative Sources<\/em>, Karen Harvey ed., 171-186,\n(London: Routledge, 2017), 172-173; Giorgio Riello, \u201cGlobal Things: Europe\u2019s\nEarly Modern Material Transformation\u201d, chapter one in The Routledge Handbook of Material Culture in Early Modern Europe<\/em>,\nDavid Gaimster, Tara Hamling and Catherine Richardson eds., 29-45, (London:\nRoutledge, 2016), 46.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[24] Hood, \u201cObject\u201d,\n177; Karen Harvey, \u201cPractical Matters\u201d, introduction in History and Material Culture: A Student’s Guide to Approaching\nAlternative Sources<\/em>, Karen Harvey ed., 1-23, (London: Routledge, 2017), 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Underwood, a second year History student at the University of Portsmouth, has written the following blog entry on the Adam and Eve Powder Flask for the Introduction to Historical Research module. Tom discusses the flask\u2019s importance as a marker of social standing in the Renaissance period. The module is co-ordinated by Dr Maria Cannon, Lecturer in Early Modern History at Portsmouth. In the Abrahamic religions Adam and Eve are the symbol of life, the creation of humankind, the genesis of man. Firearms, on the other hand, are representative of quite the opposite, death, destruction and a complete collapse of humanity that would not look entirely out of place in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[26,474,14,219,472,329,473],"class_list":["post-1488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning_in_focus","tag-archives","tag-consumer-culture","tag-history","tag-material-culture","tag-renaissance","tag-sixteenth-century","tag-va-museum"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/history.port.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/WLA_vanda_Powder_flask_Adam_and_Eve-e1565975597112.jpg?fit=617%2C299&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p91PlX-o0","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1488"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1502,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488\/revisions\/1502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.port.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}