Susan Hight Rountree

The centerpiece of the collection covered here is the Morris-Canby-Rumford Dollhouse, originally built and furnished circa 1820, and donated to the Folk Art Center in 1981. (Children of the family to whom the dollhouse belonged are still allowed to play with it by permission.) A significant amount of the dollhouse furnishings dating from the early and mid-nineteenth century survive, while other pieces were added over the years. A number of the newer items, from the 1930s through 1950s, are reproductions of old family pieces. This is a dream dollhouse in the cabinet babyhouse style, with elaborate accessories-- the kitchen and dining rooms, in particular, with their extensive collections of china, metalware, and even glass pieces, are droolworthy.

The Long Island Dollhouse, found by a contractor in 1968 in a house he was demolishing (origin unknown), is more of a 20th century mansion type, built longer and lower than, but similarly to Queen Mary's Dollhouse. Donated items combine with the furniture that was in the dollhouse, but the overall effect as curated by the Folk Art Museum is still 19th c. A number of items from the Folk Art Center have been duplicated in minature to furnish the house as well-- the toys in particular. A mix of scales is more evident here than in the other dollhouse. The Music room is especially entrancing. The kitchen in the Long Island Dollhouse is beautifully full of accessories of every description, including a black silk Brazilian doll. Wood, copper, china, and even marzipan (in foodstuffs made by a Colonial Williamsburg pastry chef) will have cooks' fingers itching. There is even a well-furnished toolshed.

The last part of the book is focused on 19th century toy kitchens and shops, usually German-made, in the collection. The Nuremberg Kitchen, early 19th century, will look mostly familiar to connoiseurs of early modern German kitchen prints; there is also another tile-roofed kitchen, and a turn of the 20th century kitchen, as well as a Dry Goods Shop, Millinery Shop, and Post office. For anyone who was ever entranced by the Playmobil Kitchen (http://store.playmobilusa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-US-Site/en_US/Product-Show?pid=5317&cgid=Puppenhaus) or Playmobil Royal Kitchen (http://store.playmobilusa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-US-Site/en_US/Product-Show?pid=4251&cgid=Maerchenschloss), this is the pre-21st century equivalent... Oh my.

The pictures are large, glossy, and well laid out. The text is just enough to give the reader a sense of what they are seeing. This is primarily a picture book for the collection/exhibit, but it's well worth a look. (Me, I want to buy a copy.)… (mehr)

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