To stitch, or not to stitch...

Hello my friends,

Before reading this post... A warning is warranted. None of the thousands of stitches you see in these pictures were made by me...

You may recognise it as one of the Janet Granger kits. It is a rug based on a William Morris design. Morris being one of great designers of the Arts & Crafts movement, places this design in the late Victorian period. Not quite the 18th century.

So strictly speaking it has no place in Huis ter Swinnendael for in 1806 it would be an anachronism. Something made in the future. But I love the design and colours of this rug very much, so it wil get a good place in one of the rooms.

But who made it, and why? A good friend of a dear friend loves to embroider and was looking for a new project to stitch. When I was asked if she could perhaps help me with a project I did not have to think long and hard. I bought this kit to make myself but was reluctant to start. She has enjoyed making it and I have super miniature carpet! So over the last few months I was regularly updated on the progress made on this pretty rug.

Payment was not allowed, so treating both friends on a lunch was the least I could do. The party at the table next to us probably wondered why I was so happy with a blue and green mouse mat that was clearly on the small side! What can I say? It was a lovely lunch.

So although I did not stitch this carpet myself,  I am naturaly very happy with it. The work has been skillfuly and neatly done. The result is stunning! I am very greatful for this tremendously kind gesture.

But do not give up all hope. I do plan to embroider myself too. As a matter of fact I have stitched the first stitches already! Hopefully the result will come somewhere near this beautiful miniature embroidery.

Huibrecht 

Home is where the heart(h) is 4d: the 2 princes finished and a third one as a bonus.

Hello my friends,

Last saturday I had another workshop painting miniature porcelain in the studio of Cocky Wildschut. That day I finished the tableaux of Prince Maurits and Prince Frederick. Two brothers who, (first Maurits and then Frederick) followed in the footsteps of their father, William I (a.k.a. William the Silent) as Stadhouder of the Dutch Republic. 

As you can see I only deepened some shadows and added some details by adding a layer of porcelain paint to some area's. For example in Maurits' case I added a layer of colour to the shadow part of the tablecloth and to his hair and beard. Plus some added shading here and there to accentuate the form of limbs, the ostrich plumes on the helmets and such.

 And, while I write this a few days later, I know that today the kiln is fired up to fire them and seal the paint within the glazing.

As you can imagine these did not take me an enitire day to do. So before lunch I had time to work on a new project. A small project in respect to the 104 tiles needed for both Maurits and Frederick. It is a plate decorated in free hand. Depicting William V, the last Stadhouder who fled the republic during the Batavian Revolution in 1795.

I have told you before that Since the founding of the republic there were two important factions in Dutch politics. Those that wanted the Prince of Orange as Stadhouder. They were called 'Orangisten' The title Stadhouder originates from the middle ages and was officialy something like the commander in chief, while the States General (parliament) had the last say in all affairs. Some Orangisted wanted the prince to be king but in name only. Orangists could belong to the nobility, who had ties with the court, right down the social ladder to the paupers in the slums. 

The other faction wanted the States General to have the last say in everything and really did not see the need for any prince of Orange to command the Republic's armies and meddle in the states affairs. They were called 'Staatsen'. They were predominantly wealthy regent oligarchy which rather ruled themselves free from the house of Orange.

I will not turn this into a history lesson.  The whole story fills several books. But through the 16th, 17th and 18th century one or the other faction would be dominant. In the second half of the 18th century a new faction was on the rise. Called 'patriots' not to be confused by the modern day meaning of the word. They embraced the ideals of enlightenment like democracy, human rights, sovereignty of the people, and disgusted by the (perceived) decadence of the circle of the court ánd the oligarchic regents. They came from the ranks we would call the (upper) middle classes, the wealthy regent families and the lower aristocracy. They wanted the old republic with autonomous provinces overturned peacefully and to found a centralised state with a constitution and all the works in its place. No House of Orange and no closed oligarchy which only looked at the interests of their own class. 

One of the ways in which Orangists would show their sympathies (since William III Stadhouder of Holland and king of England) was through creamware or porcelain depicting the then "ruling" prince and or orange trees. Often with acronyms on the front. 

Or with added verses and slogans.

This plate has the acronym "PVOR" meaning "Prins Van ORanje" or Prince of Orange. And "WdV" means "Willem de Vijfde" or William the 5th. This plate is my own design, based on two different pieces of which the plate above is one of them.

On a next workshop I may make a pendant for this plate with Princess Wilhelmine, the wife of Willem V. She never figures alone on a plate or vase, it is always the prince or the couple together, but having her facing him on her own plate could be a nice subject for a future plate. 

Lastly you can see a a porcelain jug. I decorated it with a dark carmine red. after firing it will need a little golden edge to finish it off. 

 

Well, that is it for now. Have a great day,

Huibrecht

An 18th century dollshouse in Haarlem

Hello my friends,

A few days ago I had a three hour gap between two meetings for work. The first was in The Hague and the second was in Amsterdam. Poor planning from my part perhaps... but not all is bad... In between these two cities lies the old city of Haarlem. 

I decided to use this gap to visit the Frans Hals museum in Haarlem. Which, besides a wonderful collection paintings by Frans Hals and his contemporaries, also houses one of the few remaining cabinet houses of the 17th and 18th century still in existence today. 

And they are proud of that fact because they even mention the dollshouse explicitly next to the main entrance of this museum! And rightly so don't you think?

With the time needed for driving. Parking and walking to and thro the museum there was an hour and a half left to visit the museum. Not by far enough to have a decent look at the different collections . But enough for the dollshouse!

As you can see it stands against the endwall  of a long room with only one entrance. With the dimmed lighting and the tiled floor it looks quite reverend. Almost like a Catholic altar in a private chapel!

Only the pews are missing.

Finaly a proper degree of respect of displaying the fruits of our special hobby. :-) Well, it is very special but lets not get carried away too much. 

What sets this cabinet apart from the other remaining cabinet houses are the 2 sets of double doors. All houses have the original set of doors belonging to the cabinet they are built in. Although they are usualy taken ooff the cabinet and stored away to display the interior better. But not in this case. The reason for that choice is the following.

Behind these outer doors is a set of 2 inner doors. These are painted to resemble the front facade of a grand house. Inserted into these doors are the windows through which you can peer into the rooms laying behind them if the doors are still shut. It is, as far as I know, the oldest of this type in the Netherlands. At least it is the only one surviving to this day. And that is why they show the cabinet house with all four doors in place.

The inner doors with the facade do not extend over the cellar floor. Those 3 rooms were originally hidden from view. On both front legs you see a crank.  When Sara Rothe had opened both sets of doors and had shown all the rooms to her guests, two footmen would start turning those cranks. And to the surprise (and delight?) of the unsuspecting guests the whole Cabinet house would start to rise up. Revealing the hidden 3 rooms in the cellar stock! 

Unfortunately the mechanism does not work anymore. But we can stil admire the rooms because the fake front drawer panels have been removed. And luckily so! For the kitchen and the diningroom are quite stunning rooms. I am not going to discuss all the rooms here. Just my favorites. 

Hidden behind a door in that diningroom is the only loo in this house. A strange place according to our standards perhaps. But if you think that it was not unheard of in the grandest houses of the day to have guests urinate behind a screen in the same room. (quite handy because then a full bladder won't mean you can no longer participate in the dinner conversation...) Than this placement is less awkward. 

Not that we will have such oddities in Huis ter Swinnendael however... And luckily for the Zonneschut's not less than three are planned there. not counting the chamber pots and the 'thunder boxes' in some rooms.

And come to think of it. The loo's in the other cabinet houses, when present, are situated in the kitchens....

The most famous room of this house in books and on the internet, is the one where guests would be entertained. Called here 'Kamer met rood moor' the red room. With "moor" being an old Dutch name for moiré or watered silk. This room is popular in the interner too because of the fabulous and sumptuous display of miniature silverware in the back wall.

It even is used in the 2002 book "Dollshouse Style" by Kath Dalmeny as an example to make your own 18th century continental roombox. Complete with projects to remake key parts of this interior. 

Some of these projects I plan on making For Huis ter Swinnendael. 

For a 17th century Bedroom in the same book she uses the childrens bedroom with a domed canopy bed from the Dollshouse of Petronella Oortman in the Rijksmuseum. That bed is also on my to do list... But that is for another day and post!

Apart from the mouth watering silver pieces, the combination of the red silk with the gilt cream wallpanels are very popular unto this day. It conveys the delicious feeling of grandeur and luxury.

On the other side of the hall, opposite of the 'kamer met rood moor' lies the room of 'Astrologus Ludeman'.  On the table lies a urine bottle in a woven basket. There are learned volumes in the alcove, as well as glass bottles and porcelain jars with ingredients for medicins. Which  you associate with doctors. But, above the table hangs a crystal skull with a golden crown and on the table stands a gameboard used for gambling. That does not quite fit into the scene...

Astrologus Ludeman was a real person. Working as a doctor/ quack/ astrologer of German origin and made a lot of money in Amsterdam at the time of Sara Rothe. Selling his remedies and healing incurable ailments and all that to the wealthy patricians of the city. Many contempories thought he was a fraud, but Ludeman had wealthy patrons who supported and protected him. There is always someone who really wants to believe...

It is not sure if Sara believed in him and his tricks or not. So, is the subject of this room to revere or to ridicule Ludeman? Noone knows for sure. To me it feels like neither of the two. It could just be the set up for a doctors visit where the doctor is named after a fashionable and therefor recognisable figure of the day. 

Whatever the reason for Sara to name this the room of Astrologus Ludeman, this set up does invite the guests who are shown the cabinet house to talk about what they think or know about this figure of some notoriety. I can imagine that mentioning his name alone would start (lively but polite) gossip "Have you heard...", "rumors have it..." and "I was told that...." and such.

My personal favorite however of the rooms in this house is not the "Kamer met rood moor" or the "Kamer van astrologus Ludeman". No, my favorite is the room called "de beschilderde kamer" or the painted room. Named so because of the painted scenes on the walls and ceiling. Many rooms in Dutch houses with this fancy and costly treatment were called 'painted room' of it was not called by another name. 

The eastern rug here is also painted on the floor (just like in the "kamer met rood moor" but with a different design.) this however has nothing to do with the name of the room. Here paint is used to simulate a real knotted carpet in miniature. 

The walls are painted with italianate landscapes and the ceiling is painted with a trompe l'oeuil of a domed ceiling. You can see that last one better on the picture below. Such a handsome little room!

The last room I want to show you is the one below. It is a bedroom with bedsteads hidden behind curtains. A nice detail (for me) is the subtle use of trompe l'oeuil painting. And I am not talking about the faux marble fire surround, which is quite delicate, although not as striking as the ones in the rooms shown above. No I mean the panneled walls. The raised panels on the chimney breast and above the bedsteads are repeated on the closet door in between the two bedsteads. But it is not... The raised panel on the door is simulated with paint. A light or a dark line outlining the panel on the door, that is all. The other four panels are real as you can see. 

The doll of the child was once supervised by a maid who was ironing stockings. So this room with the glded mirror is not a mauds room or a laundry room, but the childrens bedroom. 

What is also special about Sara Rothe is that she assembled not one but two cabinet houses. The second one stands in the Kunstmuseum in The Hague. That will be the subject of a visit in the near future. Stay tuned. 

Be well,

Huibrecht