Treasure from the Houten fair

Hello my friends,

Last week I went to a miniatures show in the town of Houten. It is a fair that has been growing in popularity and so are the number of sellers that participate.

My first purchase were these two figurines by Victoria Heredia Guerbos. I love her little putti. These are added to the four I have already collected over the years. My plan for them.is to use them as decorations on the diningroom table. 

The ideal number is 7 pieces I think, scattered between the candelabras and dishes. So at least one more group of birds to go. But the two new Victoria Heredia miniatures were not the only figurines I bought in Houten

You can say that it was thé day for figurines. Because, although totaly unplanned, I ended up four more figurines. Like the one above called 'Venus adorned'. Although it looks to be porcelain it is actualy made of cold painted bronze! And consider how detailed this is. It measures a height of only 7/8 of an inch! Just over 2 cm!

And here, next to a modern silver cast champagne cooler I bought of a second hand miniatures dealer,  stands a figurine called 'the golden age'. Some of our American friends may well recognise the hand of Randall Zadar in these pieces. And if so, you are quite right!

These two, and the following two pictures are figurines made by Randall in limited editions. They were not sold in Europe as far as I know. But a good friend tipped me off that one of the stall holders was selling the entire collection of an European collector of Zadar's miniatures!

Perhaps not the once in a life time opportunity, but on this side of the great pond a very, very, rare opportunity indeed!

Many of the extremely detailed figurines are based on older models. Like this group made in 1997 called 'the three graces'. These little ladies are (playfuly?)  harassing cupid. You can see his bow and quifer lying on the ground. Picking on a minor, ladies? Not very craceful indeed!

This figurine is based on a similar one made by sevres in the 18th century. Most figurines are vased on more modern styles and those will not fit in the 1806 theme for Huis ter Swinnendael. 

The bagpiper. Is the fourth and last Randall Zadar miniature that I bought. There was a fifth one. Depicting Hera with a peacock and putti in full rococo splendour but I already overstretched my budget severely, so that one stayed with the seller. Perhaps it will still be for sale next year? Then it will surely be mine! 

With all this figurine-madness going on you'd almost forget that there was a lot more for sale in Houten. Here is some glassware I bought from Elisabeth Elsner von Gronow. Some lovely pieces. The multi-coloured stripes in the glass flower vase are very finely done. 

The two perfume bottles you may have already seen in the top picture together with the flower vase. My favourite of the four however is the vase wth the bird shaped stopper. The red stripes are very elegant. 

One miniature I could not leave behind was this pulled thread table cloth made by (recent) Igma artisan Tineke Beiler. She makes very delicate and detailed miniature embroidery. But also these kinds of cloths. You may understand, dear reader, that I had to have one... 

However stunning and pretty these may be. Let us turn to a subject that captivates me as much in 1:1 as in 1:12. Books! This hefty tome is a miniature replica of the Mappe Monde atlas printed in 1703. And I realy mean a replica. All the (folded) maps are facsimile (but in miniature) of the real one. Swoon. It is my third book made bij Tine Krijnen. Her work is superb. I will show you some of the maps inside in a post on globes and atlasses soon. 

Well, dear reader, that concludes my extremely pretty miniature hoard that I brought back with me from the Houten show. And the annual Arnhem show is already on october the fifth! You will understand that my Arnhem budget has already been compromised. Oh well. Even without buying much then there will be a lot of beautiful miniatures to behold and delight in. 

Huibrecht.