The BDA Museum is delighted to loan objects to the forthcoming exhibition Consuming Passions: Luxury Shopping in Georgian Britain at Fairfax House in York. Fairfax House was the winter home of Viscount Fairfax. Its richly decorated interior was designed by York's most distinguished eighteenth-century architect, John Carr and furnished with the Noel Terry collection of furniture, clocks, paintings and decorative arts.

The Georgian age saw shopping becoming an increasingly important social and economic phenomenon. Greater numbers of the aspiring middle classes saw their disposable income increase and shopping for luxury items became a way of displaying one's status in society. The selection and purchase of goods was transformed into a pleasurable pursuit in its own right and shopping became a fashionable leisure and social activity for both sexes.

The Georgian desire for a white smile stimulated a fashion for ivory dentures and a growing interest in oral hygiene products. Items on display from the BDA Museum include an exquisite oral hygiene set which includes a toothbrush, toothpick, ear scoop and a silver hallmarked toothbrush made by the prominent silversmith and jeweller of Birmingham, Joseph Taylor in 1803. For further details about Fairfax House and the exhibition go to www.fairfaxhouse.co.uk. The exhibition continues until 31st December 2015.