Whom the whig fits... and other (birthday) presents!

Hello my friends,

In 1806, the year I want to set the scene for Huis ter Swinnendael, whigs has gone out of fashion. Fanciful powdered whigs had dominated fashion for the elite almost 200 years, but that fashion statement of the Ancien Regime found its end in the French revolution. That did not mean that nobody wore whigs anymore. Some, mainly elderly people, kept wearing them. Out of habit or because they were not eager to show what was left of their hair after a life time of wearing whigs.  

And naturaly the differences in fashion did not stop there as the old cartoon below shows us. And the victor dictates the tone. Note for example the calm posture and sarcastic bemusement of the revolutionary couple's reaction, versus the indignant (slight panic) reaction of the startled proponents of the old regime. The nobles that are out of touch with the new times.

"Ha! What an antiquity"                                 "Oh! The madness of this novelty..."

I imagine that for Carel Polyander and Annabelle Zonneschut, time has somewhat stood still since the Batavian revolution started in 1795. They are not blind to all the events of their time of course, but within the domain of their country estate they do not feel the need to follow fashion anymore. they have withdrawn from society more or less and can cultivate what they would like to preserve.  

And when the new fashions are promoted by the revolutionary new elite, that is all the more reason for them to not adopt them. The Zonneschuts comfortably live in their own bubble now. The servants may agree or disagree but they will wisely keep their opinions to themselves. In short, this attitude of the residents of the house I'm building, means that 'madame et monsieur' still wear whigs. 

Princess Wilhelmina, by Johann Friedrich August Tischbein in 1789, Mauritshuis museum

The picture above is of Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia. She was the wife of Prince William V who fled to England in the early days of the revolution of 1795. Her whig shows one of the latest fashions for whigs in the same year the attack on the Bastille in Paris started on the 14th of july. Therefore I wanted Annabelle to at least have one whig in this style.

I asked Annemarie Kwikkel Smith, who makes stunning period dolls, if she would be interested in making this type of whig for me. Normally she does not make loose whigs, but she loved the idea I have for my house and the family that occupies it. So she loved to accept the commission. 

 Luckily I planned on going to a miniatures fair in the last weekend of january. On that fair, Annemarie and I met eachother. It was great to see each other in real life. It makes it much more personal than just communicating by email. She had finished the whig already and gave it to me. I was amazed by the whig. So beautiful!

And what surprised me even more was that she would not let me pay for it.  She wanted to give it to me as a present! Very gratefully I thanked her and took the whig home whith me. Now it awaits the new whig stand so that I can take this beautiful hairpiece out of its box and display it in the dressing room. Since my birthday was only two weeks away I regard it also a bit like a birthday present! 

Annemarie, if you read this, thank you again for this spectacular gift! It will soon find its place in the dressingroom as soon as I have a suitable whig stand to display it.

At the same fair I also bought a few other pieces. For example this three legged Queen Anne style table made by Ericson Miniatures. And a few kits for furniture and flowers. You will see more of these when I get round to assembling them. 

Just before Christmas I received a package through the mail. It was sent by Birgit of the Biwubaeries blogspot. It contained a Biwubaeries lunchbox which I have started using for transporting my ceramic miniatures to and fro the workshops to paint them. 

Birgit knows my love for marzipan from Lübeck and had added a Niederegger marzipan loaf and Mozart kugeln. Oh pure bliss! Unfortunately these all started to disappear in the following days. Now you may think that I have a sweet tooth, but no...

After corresponding with Birgit on these mysterious dissapearances we concluded that those tasty treats were probably being absconded by the Christmas Mouse.Sthis mouse stars in a poem written by James Krüss. She reassured me that the Christmas Mouse would dissapear as soon as all the Christmas treats and decorations would be stored away. And sure enough, as soon as I had eaten the last kugeln.... I mean as soon as it had dissapeared mysteriously... The Christmas Mouse had his fill and left our house. 

I must confess I almost miss the little rascal. I hope he will return this Christmas. As long as he leaves some of the treats for me to enjoy. ;-)

Amidst all the yummy treats and lovely presents as shown on the picture, there was also a special gift made by Birgit. A stunning Faberge style egg! A luxurious miniature with microscopic mini flowers. 

Thank you again Birgit! It will get its pride of place among my other Faberge eggs. We should however give your egg a name. Since all the Russian eggs have names also. 

Can you all help me think up a good name? Suggestions are welcome.

And now it is time to look at a dead bird. No, she is not the remnant of a Christmas/birthday dinner. Nor is she a late Halloween decoration. You are looking at my birthday miniature that I have bought for myself. 

Last two years I used my birthday money on two Clocks made by Keith Bougourd from Smalltime Miniatures. I have showed you these clocks before. For this years birthday miniature I found this tiny dodo skeleton in a glass case. 

My I present to you Ophelia? As the plaque on the back tells us, she was last seen wandering the beaches of Mauritius in 1662. She, and originally the 23 sisters of Ophelia, were made by Vanalan Miniatures.

I love birds as you may know. And the unfortunate Dodo is one of those oddities that really fit into a house like Huis ter Swinnendael. I found her in a Facebook mesage from Vanessa Inwood of Vanalan Miniatures. Upon my request she told me that they had made 24 Dodo skeletons, all with different names and poses. When I had contacted her they had only four left. From the pictures she kindly send me of the four remaining dodo's I chose Ophelia.

You can imagine that this miniature will most likely end up in the library for it is a rarity you want to show off to your visitors, (for who else will have a dodo skeleton in their collection of naturalia?) but not something the lady of the house will want to find in the diningroom or the salon.  

The 'downside' of this super miniature is that the glass display case and the background make it a very Victorian ensemble. That is not the right time period for Huis ter Swinnendael. However I have some plans to alter the display case to give it more of an eighteenth century look and feel. first of all I will make a matching table or chest of drawers for Ophelia's case to stand on. And I have plans to give her a less naturalistic background. Something with the feel of an idealised garden rather than the Mauritian jungle for that 18th century vibe. When 'stylistic beauty' was just as important, if not more so, than 'natural realism'. But that will be a future project!

Well that is it for now. I hope that you like my new miniatures I certainly do! 

Huibrecht