Zara Kesterton
@zarakesterton.bsky.social
PhD student at Cambridge studying flowers in 18th century French fashion 🌸
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
The Salon got off to a fantastic start last week when we discussed smell! This week, it’s Taste, and we’ll be meeting 12-1pm tomorrow in the Junior Parlour at Caius. We’ll discuss Robles’ chapter on ‘Squid’ in Natural Things in Early Modern Worlds + the online exhibition kitcheninthecabinet.com
The Kitchen in the Cabinet
kitcheninthecabinet.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:22 AM
The Salon got off to a fantastic start last week when we discussed smell! This week, it’s Taste, and we’ll be meeting 12-1pm tomorrow in the Junior Parlour at Caius. We’ll discuss Robles’ chapter on ‘Squid’ in Natural Things in Early Modern Worlds + the online exhibition kitcheninthecabinet.com
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Our first session of the term takes place tomorrow (Wednesday 15th) at 12 noon! Please note the updated location in the Junior Parlour, Gonville & Caius
October 14, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Our first session of the term takes place tomorrow (Wednesday 15th) at 12 noon! Please note the updated location in the Junior Parlour, Gonville & Caius
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Many thanks to @zarakesterton.bsky.social for a very generous review of Shoes and the Georgian Man in the new issue of Selvedge. Much appreciated!
www.selvedge.org/products/iss...
www.selvedge.org/products/iss...
Issue 127 Aurora (Pre-Order)
COMING NEXT AURORA–Northern light Out 15 October FLAX AND FOOTBALL–Christian Jeffery PATTERN PLAY–Marimekko DIZZYING DELIGHTS–Valentino SPARKING JOY–Folk dress of Eastern Telmark A SMOKING SHUTTLE–Wel...
www.selvedge.org
October 3, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Many thanks to @zarakesterton.bsky.social for a very generous review of Shoes and the Georgian Man in the new issue of Selvedge. Much appreciated!
www.selvedge.org/products/iss...
www.selvedge.org/products/iss...
Calling all Cambridge postgrads! Come to our discussion group and symposium
Our workshop has a new look this term: The Salon.
Discussion group meeting alternate Wednesdays 12-1pm in the Stephen Hawking Room, Trinity Hall.
Our symposium on 26 November will feature a keynote by Dr Anna Maerker (KCL). Want to speak? Email us 18thcenturycam@gmail.com.
Discussion group meeting alternate Wednesdays 12-1pm in the Stephen Hawking Room, Trinity Hall.
Our symposium on 26 November will feature a keynote by Dr Anna Maerker (KCL). Want to speak? Email us 18thcenturycam@gmail.com.
October 1, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Calling all Cambridge postgrads! Come to our discussion group and symposium
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Excited to see this published @frenchhistory.bsky.social! ‘Only illusions are amusing …’: nature, artifice and femininity in eighteenth-century France through the lens of Louis de Carmontelle' by @zarakesterton.bsky.social 🌼🌺🌸🎨
academic.oup.com/fh/article/d...
academic.oup.com/fh/article/d...
‘Only illusions are amusing …’: nature, artifice and femininity in eighteenth-century France through the lens of Louis de Carmontelle
Abstract. This article considers the watercolour portraits of Louis de Carmontelle as a commentary on the relationships between illusion, reality, artifice
academic.oup.com
July 23, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Excited to see this published @frenchhistory.bsky.social! ‘Only illusions are amusing …’: nature, artifice and femininity in eighteenth-century France through the lens of Louis de Carmontelle' by @zarakesterton.bsky.social 🌼🌺🌸🎨
academic.oup.com/fh/article/d...
academic.oup.com/fh/article/d...
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
🌹I was so lucky to take part in an incredible conference: “Plants & People: the Cultivation and Propagation of Botanical Knowledge Among Non-Professional Communities, c. 1600-1800" (8-9 July 2025) at Cambridge; organised by @zarakesterton.bsky.social and @lucyjhavard.bsky.social 🌱 🌿 🌺
July 13, 2025 at 1:57 PM
🌹I was so lucky to take part in an incredible conference: “Plants & People: the Cultivation and Propagation of Botanical Knowledge Among Non-Professional Communities, c. 1600-1800" (8-9 July 2025) at Cambridge; organised by @zarakesterton.bsky.social and @lucyjhavard.bsky.social 🌱 🌿 🌺
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
That’s a wrap on #plantsandpeople! Thanks to all of our wonderful speakers, keynotes, artists, and attendees for two days of fantastic discussion and hands-on experimentation. Over and out from @zarakesterton.bsky.social and @lucyjhavard.bsky.social !
July 9, 2025 at 9:31 PM
That’s a wrap on #plantsandpeople! Thanks to all of our wonderful speakers, keynotes, artists, and attendees for two days of fantastic discussion and hands-on experimentation. Over and out from @zarakesterton.bsky.social and @lucyjhavard.bsky.social !
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Now for the final paper of the day! We hear from Christina Welch from the University of Winchester on ‘People and Plants in the Colonial Caribbean: Indigenous and Enslaved African People’s Medicinal and Horticultural Knowledge’ 🌱 🌅 🌺 #peopleandplants
July 9, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Now for the final paper of the day! We hear from Christina Welch from the University of Winchester on ‘People and Plants in the Colonial Caribbean: Indigenous and Enslaved African People’s Medicinal and Horticultural Knowledge’ 🌱 🌅 🌺 #peopleandplants
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Next up is a paper by Margaux Shraiman entitled 'A Surinamese Butterfly Among Cape Flowers: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Copies of botanical illustrations from the Cabinet of Johanna Breda and Levinus Vincent' 🌼🦋 #plantsandpeople
July 9, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Next up is a paper by Margaux Shraiman entitled 'A Surinamese Butterfly Among Cape Flowers: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Copies of botanical illustrations from the Cabinet of Johanna Breda and Levinus Vincent' 🌼🦋 #plantsandpeople
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
…and a glimpse into our earlier study session at the Fitzwilliam Museum, a tour of the botanical highlights of the prints and drawings collection led by Catherine Powell Warren 🌷🖌️ #plantsandpeople
July 9, 2025 at 1:36 PM
…and a glimpse into our earlier study session at the Fitzwilliam Museum, a tour of the botanical highlights of the prints and drawings collection led by Catherine Powell Warren 🌷🖌️ #plantsandpeople
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Our final panel of the conference on ‘Empire and Knowledge’ begins with Joseph Bienko’s paper on 'Baconian Buccaneering: William Dampier’s Excursion to Panama' ⛵️🌿 #plantsandpeople
July 9, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Our final panel of the conference on ‘Empire and Knowledge’ begins with Joseph Bienko’s paper on 'Baconian Buccaneering: William Dampier’s Excursion to Panama' ⛵️🌿 #plantsandpeople
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
And now for the final paper of this panel on Medical Knowledge… Lauren Owen’s from Florida State University speaks to us about recipes for health and wellness in 18thC France! #plantsandpeople
July 9, 2025 at 11:37 AM
And now for the final paper of this panel on Medical Knowledge… Lauren Owen’s from Florida State University speaks to us about recipes for health and wellness in 18thC France! #plantsandpeople
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Our third panel of the conference on Medical Knowledge kicks off with a paper from Nikolas Brusletto on ‘Botanical Knowledge in the Norwegian Black Books: Folk Medicine, Embodied Experience, and Social Networks’! #plantsandpeople
July 9, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Our third panel of the conference on Medical Knowledge kicks off with a paper from Nikolas Brusletto on ‘Botanical Knowledge in the Norwegian Black Books: Folk Medicine, Embodied Experience, and Social Networks’! #plantsandpeople
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
We have two workshops running in tandem this morning at the #plantsandpeople conference - one on botanical images at the Fitzwilliam Museum, and a practical workshop on early modern dye production with Nabil Ali! Thanks to @jesuscollegecam.bsky.social for the use of your greenhouses!
July 9, 2025 at 8:53 AM
We have two workshops running in tandem this morning at the #plantsandpeople conference - one on botanical images at the Fitzwilliam Museum, and a practical workshop on early modern dye production with Nabil Ali! Thanks to @jesuscollegecam.bsky.social for the use of your greenhouses!
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Our second and final keynote of the day, @leoniehannan.bsky.social now speaking on ‘Plants as Process: Embodied Knowledge and the ‘Liberty of Air’’! #plantsandpeople
July 8, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Our second and final keynote of the day, @leoniehannan.bsky.social now speaking on ‘Plants as Process: Embodied Knowledge and the ‘Liberty of Air’’! #plantsandpeople
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
And moving to the final paper of this panel, ‘Gardening as Knowledge Practice: Historical Handbooks for Kitchen Gardens’ by Sanne Steen 🪴📚 #plantsandpeople
July 8, 2025 at 1:36 PM
And moving to the final paper of this panel, ‘Gardening as Knowledge Practice: Historical Handbooks for Kitchen Gardens’ by Sanne Steen 🪴📚 #plantsandpeople
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
And now it’s time for Janet Stiles Tyson’s paper, ‘A Curious Herbal in the Commercial Book Market’, examining Elizabeth Blackwell’s famous illustrated work #plantsandpeople
July 8, 2025 at 1:16 PM
And now it’s time for Janet Stiles Tyson’s paper, ‘A Curious Herbal in the Commercial Book Market’, examining Elizabeth Blackwell’s famous illustrated work #plantsandpeople
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
And we’re back, fuelled after a lovely lunch break! 🥗 🌯🥪 We begin our panel on ‘Books and Knowledge’ with a paper from Grace Murray from Birkbeck entitled ‘Marginalia and Memory Books: Writing Garden Labour in Eighteenth-Century London’ #plantsandpeople
July 8, 2025 at 12:55 PM
And we’re back, fuelled after a lovely lunch break! 🥗 🌯🥪 We begin our panel on ‘Books and Knowledge’ with a paper from Grace Murray from Birkbeck entitled ‘Marginalia and Memory Books: Writing Garden Labour in Eighteenth-Century London’ #plantsandpeople
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
The final paper of this panel is from Maja-Lisa Müller from Universität Bielefeld, entitled ‘Mushrooms and Mimesis: 18thC Wax Models as Deictic and Didactic Boundary Objects’! 🍄🍄🟫🍄
July 8, 2025 at 11:02 AM
The final paper of this panel is from Maja-Lisa Müller from Universität Bielefeld, entitled ‘Mushrooms and Mimesis: 18thC Wax Models as Deictic and Didactic Boundary Objects’! 🍄🍄🟫🍄
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Now we hear from Alasdair McNeill from Birkbeck on ‘Cheesemakers and Plant Knowledge in Early Modern England’! 🧀🌻 #plantsandpeople
July 8, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Now we hear from Alasdair McNeill from Birkbeck on ‘Cheesemakers and Plant Knowledge in Early Modern England’! 🧀🌻 #plantsandpeople
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Now onto our first panel on ‘Embodied Knowledge’! We begin with a paper by Océane Fontaine Cioffi on ‘Naming Selecting, and Using Plants: Botanical Knowledge in 16thC Perfumery’… 🌸🌺🪻#plantsandpeople
July 8, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Now onto our first panel on ‘Embodied Knowledge’! We begin with a paper by Océane Fontaine Cioffi on ‘Naming Selecting, and Using Plants: Botanical Knowledge in 16thC Perfumery’… 🌸🌺🪻#plantsandpeople
The best thing about running a conference is inviting your dream keynote speakers! Follow along for updates throughout today and tomorrow 🌸
Kicking off #plantsandpeople with a fantastic keynote from Catherine Powell-Warren on ‘Plants as Vectors in Female Artistic Community Building’!
July 8, 2025 at 9:37 AM
The best thing about running a conference is inviting your dream keynote speakers! Follow along for updates throughout today and tomorrow 🌸
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Our next event of term is taking place TODAY! (Monday 2nd June) at 5.30 pm (not 5 pm!) in the Junior Parlour at Gonville & Caius College. We'll be hearing papers from João Moreira da Silva @joaomoreiradasilva.bsky.social and Andrés Jácome. All are welcome to join!
June 2, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Our next event of term is taking place TODAY! (Monday 2nd June) at 5.30 pm (not 5 pm!) in the Junior Parlour at Gonville & Caius College. We'll be hearing papers from João Moreira da Silva @joaomoreiradasilva.bsky.social and Andrés Jácome. All are welcome to join!
Reposted by Zara Kesterton
Only two spaces left for our Natural Dyes workshop, and our Botanical Illustrations study session is already sold out! Grab your spot here: sites.google.com/view/plants-...
Plants and People - Workshops
Please note that the following workshops have limited capacity and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register using the Google Form link below and inform the organisers imm...
sites.google.com
May 28, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Only two spaces left for our Natural Dyes workshop, and our Botanical Illustrations study session is already sold out! Grab your spot here: sites.google.com/view/plants-...
Join us today for the first session of the term!
Our Easter term card is now live! Join us on Tuesday at 5pm, in person and online, for our first two papers from Anthony Zhang and Aelfred Hillman on Restoration comedies.
May 27, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Join us today for the first session of the term!