'Housekeeping: shine, polish, gloss and glaze as surface strategies in the domestic interior'

The objects that represent the everyday domesticity of the Victorian age in our great museums of decorative arts – whether clothes, furniture, ceramics, silver or other household objects – are overwhelmingly pristine. They do not (are not allowed to) carry the marks of bodies, of wear and tear, of ingrained dirt or stains. This chapter looks at surface qualities, examining the processes of degradation to which ordinary domestic objects have been subjected, as well as the processes of cleaning, polishing and maintaining that were used to stave off decay and to enhance surface integrity in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. In doing so, it uncovers both the pleasure and the anxiety that accompanied domestic labour, across the middle and working classes in Britain.