Sold Ceramics - Sold Blue and White Kangxi Period 1662-1722 - Miniature Doll's House Vases -

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Object 2010694

A double gourd miniature "doll's house" vase

China

1700-1720

Height 53 mm (2.09 inch), diameter 31 mm (1.22 inch), diameter of mouthrim 6 mm (0.24 inch), diameter of footring 13 mm (0.51 inch), weight 22 grams (0.78 ounce (oz.))

A double-gourd miniature "doll's house" vase on footring. Decorated in underglaze blue with flowering plants and an insect in flight. on the shoulder a zig-zag lines pattern border. Around the neck two flower sprays.

At the beginning of the 18th century, there was a fashion among wealthy Dutch ladies to have models made on the scale of a house, the so called "doll's houses". The rooms of these doll's houses were furnished with miniature pieces of porcelain, furniture, paintings, upholstery and all other sorts of objects that would have belonged to the interior of a wealthy home. These doll's houses were very costly and certainly not meant for children to play with but were proudly displayed for friends and visitors and regarded as extremely luxurious items - counterparts of the cabinets of curiosities that were a fashionable hobby of rich men. Only a few of these doll's houses have been preserved. One example can be found in the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague showing an 18th century room with porcelain miniatures in cupboards and on brackets along the wall. In reality the majority of these "miniature doll's house vases" would have been part of the interior. A good example of an authentic porcelain room is the famous cabinet in Pommersfelden Castle, Germany, where groups of pieces on brackets are surrounded by these miniature vases lining the borders of the consoles. (Jörg & Flecker 2001, pp.50-51)

It was a popular pastime for the ladies of the Dutch patrician society to furnish doll's houses, whose various rooms reflected those of their own town palaces. Apart from the usual furniture, miniature versions of exotic luxury goods such as porcelain, fabrics, carpets and lacquer were obligatory. The doll's house of Petronella Oortman, now in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, and that of Lita de Ranitz in the Historical Museum of the Hague are considered to be the most prominent examples. The Chinese had produced miniature ceramics for almost one thousand years for the decoration of birdcages, therefore it was no problem for them to supply the Dutch with doll's house porcelain. Miniature pieces were also displayed in ordinary porcelain rooms in cupboards and on brackets along the wall. (Suebsman 2019, p.76)

Among the ceramic cargo of the Ca Mau shipwreck (1725) identical shaped miniature doll's house vases decorated with stylised flowers and foliage within fine borders were found. (Amsterdam 2007, p.186)

Condition: Perfect.

References:

Kassel 1990, cat. 107

Jörg & Flecker 2001, pp.50-51

Amsterdam 2007, p.186

Suebsman 2019, p.76

Price: Sold.