Products, Users, and Popular Luxury in Early Modern Greece

This book analyses aspects of the material culture of early modern Greece from an object-based perspective, using surviving artefacts from that period as primary sources.

A printed book, a wine jug, an ecclesiastical embroidery, and a pocket watch are used as entry points to examine the consumer practices of the emerging Greek bourgeoisie under Ottoman rule in the long eighteenth century. The acquisition and usage of novel products - especially imported ones - by Greeks was connected to personal expression, identity building, and self-determination in the context of the Enlightenment. The enjoyment of innovative artefacts opened new horizons to them and facilitated their individual and collective empowerment. The originality of the book lies in its eclectic and interdisciplinary approach towards early modern Greek material culture, an under-researched topic. The study is embedded within contemporary discourses on transnational trade, the materiality of everyday life, pleasurable consumption, and the negotiation of identities.

This volume will appeal to students and scholars of early modern and modern Greek history, Ottoman history, European history, material culture, history of technology, museum studies, and cultural heritage studies, as well as museum professionals, collectors, and the wider educated public.

Artemis Yagou (PhD) is a historian of design and technology. She is Associate at the Research Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the Deutsches Museum (Munich). Her main interests are Greek material culture (18th-21st centuries), the cultural history of technology, horology, and construction toys. Her previous publications include Fragile Innovation: Episodes in Greek Design History (2011) and the edited volume Technology, Novelty, and Luxury (2022). Her personal website is www.yagou.gr