What we mean when we talk about style: the 'Redolent' Eglantine Table (c.1568). Issue 3 (2nd July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chan, Eleanor
• Is Part Of: Word & image. Volume 36:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 248
• Page End: 260
• Publication Date: 2020-07-02
• Subjects: style -- Eglantine Table -- Redolence -- music -- decorative arts; Arts -- Periodicals; Communication in art -- Periodicals; 700.5
• DOI: 10.1080/02666286.2019.1709345
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0266-6286

Abstract

Abstract: Created c .1568 to commemorate a trio of dynastic marriages between the Cavendishes and the Talbots, the 'Aeglentyne' Table stands in the High Great Chamber at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire. Featuring an intricate three-panelled motif of musical instruments, gaming paraphernalia, and intertwining flowers borrowed from various continental prints, it has long been held as a masterpiece of English furniture. However, when approached through a traditional stylistic analysis, based upon the identification of tropes and features, the Eglantine Table runs the risk of falling under the category of 'bad' style: it is paratactic; it is epideictic. Such a judgement utterly misses the point of the Eglantine Table, and its visual strategies. 'Style' has become a ubiquitous term for the analysis of the things of visual culture. It allows the historian of visual culture to categorize into a shorthand that belies the sheer variety of the objects of study. The work of Willibald Sauerländer, amongst others, has long since argued for a deeper reflection on 'style' and a shift away from the 'sheer abysmal vagueness' of stylistic analysis. This paper seeks to respond to Sauerländer's call by providing a sensitive and illuminating analysis of the style(s) of the Eglantine Table.