One of the most complete dolls' houses from the 19th century is due forauction at Christie's in London. Eivlín Roden reports
Christie's expects to fetch up to £50,000 for a rare dolls' house that goes to auction in South Kensington on October 29th.
Dolls' houses have an enduring appeal, but this one is likely to attract a lot of interest because of its glimpse into life in an 1870s country house estate in England. It has been on loan to the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood for 50 years and is in near perfect condition with all furnishing and decoration intact.
Unusually large for a dolls' house at 10 ft long, it has 15 rooms including a music room, chapel, study, library, plus the more usual drawingroom, nursery and kitchens.
Another unusual feature is that it was put together by two schoolboy brothers, Laurence and Isaac Currie, sons of a banking family who lived at Minley Manor, near Sand Hurst, Hampshire. Descendants of the Curries are putting it up for sale.
The structure of the house is made from two bookcases joined together and attached onto which is an elaborate façade with five opening bays, an ornate entrance door with steps, an oriel window above and a clock in the balustraded pediment. It is thought that the front was made by carpenters working on the Minley Manor Estate, but all the interior furnishings were collected by the boys.
Inside, every room has been decorated according to contemporary taste, with wallpapers, cross stitch carpets, paintings and mirrors, while most furniture appears to have been bought in toyshops around London within a period of a couple of years. Some of it is rare, early tinplate furniture made by German toy manufacturers Rock and Graner. Every room is lit by chandeliers, including one in Venetian Murano glass which originally would have been candlelit. At some point during its stay in the museum the house had discreet electric lighting added. The fact that this dolls' house is unchanged since the 1870s makes it a piece of social history. The kitchen has a battery of pots and pans as well as a house bell board with all the rooms denoted for the servants, an array of staff and even a cat and mouse and a bone coffee grinder.
The music room has a small working Walterhausen square piano and a chess table with bone chess pieces, while the chapel has a rare Walterhausen prie-Dieu and various worshippers including three bisque dolls.
The hall is the most charming room, with a central staircase carpeted in blue and furnished with a wall clock, a hall stand, several pieces of luggage including a travelling bath and a doll dressed as a jockey and another in the costume of Alsace. In the Grand Salon a couple contemplate taking tea from a turned wood teaset on a tray.
Christie's say this is one of the most complete dolls' houses from the 19th century, with complete furniture and all manner of household objects and bits and pieces which reflect the time when it was gathered together. But as it was assembled by boys, the dolls in the house are just a little different.There are lots of children and staff, but no mother and father, and there are hoards of soldiers and elaborately dressed men at ease!