Francesca Richards, University of Kent)
Red coral was harvested from the Mediterranean and imported to England as one of the popular ‘materia medica’ in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was processed for internal medicines, set in silver or gold rattles as a teether or worn as bracelets or necklaces. This paper will explore coral objects given to young children in early modern England due to its perceived protective and health-giving qualities. While portraits of the period depict elite children with coral objects, I will argue that red coral came to be viewed as an essential accessory of childhood by anxious parents across the social hierarchy. Documentary evidence from the archives reveals that both mothers and fathers were concerned that infants should always have their corals with them and parental anxiety could relate to risks associated with perceived supernatural threats, infection and disease, or separation such as in the case of wet-nursing or fostering outside the parental home. By employing a material focus on children’s red coral in early modern England, this paper will contribute to an understanding of the medical, emotional, and practical concerns of their parents and attempts to mitigate perceived threats to children’s health and wellbeing.
——————————————————————————————————–
Francesca Richards is a PhD Student at the Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies, University of Kent, supported by a Wellcome Trust doctoral studentship. Francesca’s research explores the value placed on Mediterranean red coral, a natural material sourced and prized in medieval and Renaissance Italy but also a culturally significant import to Protestant England c.1600-1800. Drawing on a wealth of documentary evidence, material and visual culture, Francesca is examining how red coral was used as a medicine, contributed to a domestic armoury against natural and supernatural threats, and was also valued as a luxury commodity and curiosity.