William Motley on Oriental Ostentation: The Grantley Armorial China. Friday 20 June at 7:30pm

In the 18th century anyone who was anyone had to have a Chinese porcelain dinner service emblazoned with their coat of arms as a display of wealth, armigerous status and connection to the wider world. Scholar, lecturer and author Will Motley will examine the armorial porcelain at Markenfield, the long, expensive and sometimes hazardous process by which this porcelain was ordered, made in China and finally delivered to its owner, Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, (1716-1789).