A display highlighting the interaction between the monarchy and the wider world

Weapons from Oceania excited considerable interest among collectors in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The fashion for these pieces – and their availability – owed much to Captain Cook’s three voyages to the Pacific (1768–1780). One famous display was Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick’s ‘South Sea Room’ at Goodrich Court. This club is made from nephrite stone with an unusual yellow-brown hue.