“An idea of grandeur”: Furnishing the classical interior in Charleston, 1815–1840

Abstract

To understand the information received from recovered archaeological material and what it reveals about the spread of refinement in 19th-century America, it is important to place it within the broader context of its original setting. This work draws upon probate inventories and surviving material artifacts, such as homes, furniture, and decorative arts, to reconstruct the upper-class interior in Charleston, South Carolina, in the early antebellum period and illustrate the unique taste demonstrated by antebellum Charlestonians. As the lines that separated upper from middle class were becoming increasingly blurred, elite Charlestonians asserted cultural authority by maintaining an allegiance to the ideal of the English landed gentry. They emphasized their inheritance of an aristocratic order and constructed a material world that sought to identify themselves with European taste and culture. They traveled extensively in Europe acquiring art and objects with which they could ornament their homes and express their allegiance with European and classical culture, their liberal education, and, most importantly, their refined manners and taste.