In her hands: materializing distinction in Georgian Britain

This article examines the practices through which genteel women enacted distinctions between themselves and others in Georgian Britain. It explores how women used their hands as one object within an assemblage to present their identity. Alongside presentation, this article also considers the practices by which contemporaries read and recognized identities. By including these practices, this research demonstrates the ambiguous nature of identities as presented through objects. In doing so, it broadens our understanding of eighteenth-century material culture by marking a space in which to explore ambiguity, doubt and failure in processes of meaning making.