In the 17th century, women in Holland created and displayed miniature dollhouses, in much the same way that men of their era, collected and displayed curiosity cabinets. (You can click the images to enlarge them)
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has three of these dollhouses, two are pictured here, one from 1676 and another from 1686.
These dollhouses were not meant for children and could cost as much as an actual canal house at the time.
One dollhouse creator Petronella Oortman, commissioned artists of her day to create a perfectly to scale house with marble floors, sculpted ceilings, hand painted wall frescoes, and doors that opened on a garden with a working fountain. She commissioned miniature porcelain from China.
There is something about these miniature worlds that fascinate us to this day, whether it be scale model trains and towns, or intricate dollhouses.
Many humans like to be creators and masters of their own perfect little worlds, absent the stress and strife of real life. They are miniature dream worlds where everything is beautiful and peaceful.
These old dollhouses are time capsules, that allow us to travel back in time and imagine what life was like in 1686 living in Holland, on the canals, in this house.
Creating a house like this must be like Zen meditation, the creator lost in the bliss of their own imagination.
I would love to make one, but can well imagine the mounting costs, and how much I might get into it.
But it is free to look at these amazing houses, that others have built before us, and it sends our imaginations soaring across time, back to them.
Cheers to you and may your New Year be happy and peaceful~
Happy new year!
All the very best to you and yours in 2016 Carmen!
Amazing work. I have done a lot of woodworking and furniture building most of my life, but I do not have the patience to do work like they did to make these dollhouses. Wonderful photos showing the great work.
It is incredible isn’t it! Especially when you consider these were made in the late 1600’s! Happy New Year Timothy~
Thank you for posting these! They are fascinating! And happy new year to you and yours!
I wish they had more. I was entranced by them. Happy New Year Laura!
Amazing and without comments, these look so real as full size. The china plates are awesome. Great captures of these miniaturized houses.
Yes, if I hadn’t of said anything, one might imagine these were real homes. Happiest New Year my great friend. Looking forward to another blogging year with you!
Happiest New Year to you too!
Fascinating, amazing work and excellent captured… 🙂
I was amazed by them as well. These were essentially women’s hobbies. They had serious talent!
Yes, I can imagine getting lost in creating such miniature worlds. Beautiful photos…you’ve captured the time and love that is obvious in the intricacy of these houses. Happy New Year, Cindy!
I looked online at some model houses and started ticking up how much it would cost to make one’s house of dreams and realized it could cost as much as a real house, and yes I would love getting lost in it too!
What detail. It would take hours if not days to take it all in. I’m glad they hadn’t invented plastic back then — imagine all the beauty that never would have created.
Can you imagine what family held on to these through the generations for 300+ years. I can see some relative saying, “Oh that is mom’s obnoxious dollhouse she spent so much time on. Donate it to charity.” But nope, these families kept and cared for them for over 300 hundred years, which ends up being a gift to all of us! Happy New Year Colleen.
There are certainly some lessons to be learned from that doll house. I wonder how many things under trees this holiday will still be around to be cherished 300 years from now? Happy New Year Cindy.
Exactly! Our throw away consumer culture isn’t geared to homemade art. Happiest New Year to you Colleen. I am looking forward to 2016 with you! <3
Cindy I’ve never been able to resist miniatures.. thank you so much for this blog!
It brings me smack dab back into my imaginary world as a child, hoping tiny Borrowers lived in the crawl spaces! 😉
Very beautiful in their construction and so intricate. The detail is incredible.
Happy New Year to you, Cindy. May you and your camera continue to capture the world so splendidly.x
Oh that is such kind and lovey sentiments. Thank you sincerely and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones~
They are so wonderful with all the details. Happy new year to you CIndy!
I think they resonate with people who love the intricate details. I surely do and can tell you do too. Happiest New Year my friend~
Yes it does, Cindy, we had a handmade one to play with and it was amazing the details. I could sit for hours to look at every tiniest detail!
You are like me!
Aren’t they wonderful and I imagine kept many a mind from going mad. Now 350 years later maybe we can allow ourself the courage to be our own Master Cretor and live our heart and souls desire… It is 2016… It is TIME. Love Barbara
Yes, it is. Interesting isn’t it. We can see the old dollhouses as an effect of oppression, the only way a woman with little power over her life, could feel in control of her world. The tradition has remained however as women and men still do this miniature art today. Like everything involving humans, it’s complicated which makes it fascinating. Thanks for thinking and sharing and yes, it is long past time!
What a great post for the new year. May we all create beautiful worlds and launch them into being. Happy New Year Cindy!
love, Linda
Exactly my thought. Women back in the 1600’s may have built these houses to feel control, something they were not allowed to have in their lives. I would build one now to escape the daily horror of a chaotic and cruel world. The trick is how to get the arty, creative and peaceful people to take over the world. If you have an idea on how to accomplish this, let me know!
Happiest New Year to you dear Linda. I love sharing your life.
<3
Even so, this was something only the wealthy could afford to do. The rest had neither the money, the time nor the access to materials.
Definitely true. These houses cost money to make. I can’t even imagine how much Queen Victoria’s cost to make. More simple ones are still so beautiful. Victoria Canada has a collection of dollhouses in a dollhouse museum that I toured and they were wonderful. I like simple adobe doll houses, garden cottage doll houses, fairy cottages. I would actually prefer to live in a cottage than a castle. They don’t have to be super expensive to be fascinating.
Wow, such incredible detail. I’m sure they were a treat to see.
Happy New Year to you, Cindy!
Happy New Year to you and your family Carrie. Looking forward to sharing 2016 with you!
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Cindy Knoke brings her magic with a camera to Holland and the complex designs of dolls houses from the 17th century.. Stunning photos as always.
You have enhanced my life this past year dear friend. Happiest & Healthiest New Year to you~ <3 <3
And to you Cindy.. look forward to more of your adventures.. hugsXX
Fabulous. I have done some of this myself, on a far less grand scale. Another wonderful example is the dollhouse built for Queen Victoria. It’s every bit as fascinating.
Yes, I saw Queen Victoria’s this past year. Incredible! The crowds around it made it impossible to photograph unfortunately. Her’s was a bit more modern and completely intact which made it especially fascinating and so elaborate. These Dutch ones were missing gardens and such, but they are incredibly old, so we are just lucky they survived~
Happy New Year to you. Your photographs are gorgeous Cindy. 🙂
And you Ranu are a truly beautiful friend. We are celebrating our third New Year together I think. Only the best to you my friend~ <3 <3
As a little girl, I could see being very interested in having a miniature doll house. They used to have a store that displayed them in the window. They do capture a moment in time in the era. Now I’m just content to look at them.
Happy New Year Cindy.
Leslie
I think the reason children like miniatures so much is because they feel small and powerless. Miniature trains and dollhouses give them an opportunity to be in control and feel powerful. I think the motivation for adults is to recapture that imaginary feeling they had as a child, and after living in the real world for awhile, adults have a need for escape. I find it all fascinating.
I never thought of it that way but you are probably right.
Leslie
Or maybe not, but it’s all interesting….. 😉
What elegant doll houses. May 2016 be a very happy new year, Cindy.
And to you Ruth, only the best!
The detail is amazing! You can almost feel the environment,
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab®4
Yes! When I looked at the photos for the first time, I realized with Oortman’s perfectly to scale house, that I couldn’t tell they weren’t real houses. That is pretty amazing work for a hobby in 1686!
It truly is!
Thank you for great photographs of such works of art with excellent details.
Happy New Year!
Hard to tell with Oortman’s house, that it isn’t a real home. This amazes me. Happy New Year to you and yours~
Such accurate and exquisite woodwork! Thanks for sharing, Cindy…
Happy New year… 🙂
Can you believe that entry hall? It looks like we should be walking into it! Happiest New Year to you~
Exactly!
Wow, those are a beautiful piece of history. Happy new year and happy travels in 2016.
You too! I can’t wait to see what you post next~
Reblogged this on necltr and commented:
Questions I hope nobody tries to answer: How did they live with no linoleum or wall-to-wall carpeting?
I know the answer!!!! ” They lived much better!!” 😉 😉
Happy New Year!!!
Visa versa 2 U!
Incredible, aren’t they? I especially love that Delft pottery cabinet 🙂 Happy 2016 to you and yours, Cindy!
The China room is pretty incredible. The Oortman house is simply amazing! Looking forward to 2016 with you Jo. Hope it is a wonderful year for you~
Thank you 🙂
Bonne et heureuse année Cindy 🙂
Tout le meilleur a toi mon ami~
The details are amazing. I would love to build one with my granddaughter but I don’t have the skill. Thanks for sharing these photos.
It would be fun to build one with a child, and it wouldn’t need to be so perfect. They have houses pre-built and you could furnish it together. I bet you two would make a wonderful house. Happy & Healthy New Year to you and your loved ones~
Beautiful! Happy New Year 2016!!! 🙂
Happiest & Healthiest New Year to you Fae. What are we, approaching our fourth year as blogging sisters? Loved every minute of it!
<3
Lovely stuff and well caught. Always worthwhile to applaud the builders and makers, on any scale. 🙂
You are escpecially good at giving credit where credit is due Graham. Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. I look very much forward to another year with you!
Happy New Yer to you too. 🙂
Fantastic! I can’t believe the beauty and detail! Just amazing. And Happy New Year Cindy!
Yay! So glad you are as impressed by them as I am! Happy New Year~
Happy New Year! Peace.
Simply beautiful – old masters in miniature. Have seen most of the doll houses in the National Trust properties at varying times.
Oh I wish I had! The thought is so tempting. And love your “old masters in miniature.” Perfect descriptor~
Happy New Year Cindy~! Great pictures, the details are stunning. Hard to believe that these are doll houses.
Hard to believe is right! Happiest New Year to you dear friend~
Really enjoyed this Cindy.
So glad you did! I loved them too~
Wow, fabulous houses. The silver fireplace tools, wicker baskets, I can’t imagine how they were made in such fine detail. I’ve heard the the Rijksmuseum is wonderful – lucky you to visit there!
The Rijksmuseum is fabulous. Who can top the Dutch Masters? I marveled at the wicker and the silver too. Especially the wicker. How did they find the reeds to weave? How did they make it to scale so perfectly. They look so real like you could pluck them off the wall and put your bread in them. Simply amazing.
Happy New Year, Cindy.
Amazing! The detail is incredible. I can only imagine how much work went into to creating these.
Mind boggling isn’t. But we know the makers were happy during the process. It shows. Happiest New Year my friend~ <3
Welcome to Holland, Cindy 😀 Came by to bring you Extra fresh Pawkisses for a Happy and Healthy New Year 🙂 <3
I love Holland. I went twice in 2015!! Happy New Year to you my friend~ <3
A wonderful post to begin the New Year for it captures the hope and longing of humanity to create certainty in a complex, mercurial world that demands our active participation. Thank you, Cindy for making my 2015 amazing. Looking forward to the journey ahead.
Oh I so love the way your first sentence caught everything and more that I was trying to express. But, then, this is you Rebecca. You are a woman who says very much with few words. It is a very unusual gift. We are starting on our fourth year together my friend and I have loved every minute of it. Happiest New Year to you and your family~ <3
We may be on opposite sides of the world, but I feel that we are walking side-by-side. Many hugs coming your way. So much to celebrate! 🙂
Buon Anno! 🙂
Buon Anno a te mio amico e vi ringrazio!
Un abbraccio 🙂
More than 300 years old, these exquisite works of art have been captured in digital format by a modern day artist, “absent the stress and strife of real life…”
Oh, don’t you long for that Russel, to absent oneself from all the unecessary noise and conflict? I know you do, as do I, which is why we sail away in our imaginations. I am priveleged to have you as a friend Russel and look forward to what we both will do to sail above the strife in 2016. Be well my friend.
I love dollhouses…your photos and the dollhouses themselves are fantastic…perhaps this is the year I buy a kit and BUILD a doll house 🙂 Happy New Year to you and yours Cindy 🙂
Oh my God, if you do then I might too. I have been looking for years now at the kits, but to do it right will be sooooo pricey!! I can’t imagine how much fun it would be to watch you build your house in posts. Still don’t let me influence you. But DO let me know if you take the plunge. It would be like being a kid again. I spent days at a time making doll houses as a child….. <3
Amazing stuff! How incredible, all those details, by hand. Just beautiful craftsmanship!
I never cease to be amazed traveling to other countries and seeing the incredible art created by all sorts of people in every walk of life many hundreds of years ago. I am afraid as cultures we are losing this focus on the uplifting aspects of art in everyday life. So glad it resonates with you as I know it did with Ms. Oortman. I wonder what she would think if she knew how famous her creation is?
I can only imagine she’d be delighted!
As a teen, I loved miniature worlds, belonged to the local Miniature Guild, and studied doll house magazines for ideas for building the furnishings for my own 2 houses. One of which was 4 feet wide and 3 feet high. The pantry shown above made me gasp, because still, among my balsa wood stash (35 years later, mind you) I have those pantry doors, waiting for me to figure out how to hinge them to the walls of a doll house I donated to a club in another city 15 years ago. 🙂 I still have the wooden barrels, too.
I believe I saw this house in 1983 when we visited the Netherlands. We also when to Windsor, just so I could see the Queen Mary Dollhouse.
Now I have my own house to decorate, and I’m down to one smallish Victorian dollhouse, its rooms empty, the box of furniture and accessories stashed on the roof. Some day, I’ll have to redecorate.
Thanks for the memories this post incited!
Oh my you have no idea how much I loved this comment and you! What an awesome teen you were. Did you keep photos of your houses. They, and you, sound incredible. I know exactly what you mean about having you own house to decorate and being consumed with that. But when, you really finish your own house, when there is nothing left to do, as it is with me, that is when those boxes of furniture and accessories will start to call your name. I saw Queen Mary’s Dollhouse in spring of 2015. It was so crowded, it was hard to get a decent look. How incredible was that???? Just amazing!
So happy to stir good memories and even happier you shared them~
Happy New Year Cindy! These are amazing pictures!
I feel priveleged to have gotten to know you this year Maiko and so look forward to our collaborations in 2016. Be well my friend! <3
Thank you, I feel the same, magic Cindy!
I have always been fascinated by the detail of some miniature doll houses. Occasionally, I see them with little quilts in them, and as a quilter, this post reminded me of my own fascination with miniature quilts and the patience it would take to organize and put together such small pieces of fabric. I thoroughly enjoyed these photos! Best to you and yours in 2016, Cindy! 🙂
I just don’t get how things like the wicker baskets or a quilt could be done? With a jewelers loupe and really tiny reeds in the case of the baskets, and tiny-tiny needles and microfilament thread with the quilt. It’s like micro-surgery. Truly amazing. All the best to you in 2016 Deborah~
The intricate details…wow, just amazing and beautiful. Thanks, Cindy. And a Happy New Year to you. 💖
It is simply amazing and over 300 hundred years old and people were smart enough to keep it over time. All these factors create the amazement!
Incredible detail!!! Can you imagine the steady hands it would take to build these?? WOW!
It makes hand start to shake just thinking about it! It is wow and I hope the makers know how impressed we are with them 300+ years later!
Chuckling. I would not be up for the task!
Those are really amazing Cindy. Peggy has an adult dollhouse that she put quite a lot of work into. (The cost of the small furniture blows me away.) Her house is lots of fun, but it doesn’t look anything like the ones you are showing. –Curt
Oh I want to see Peggy’s house. Might you cajole her to do another post? It would be wonderful and I have lots of questions. Other bloggers would love it too. I have seen the cost of the furniture which is why I haven’t done it, but obviously, I am still thinking about it! 😉
Maybe Cindy. She smiled. Peggy recently took it apart and stored the furniture. It was one of those “I need the space for something else.” She had great fun when she was building and furnishing the house several years ago, however. I’ll let you know if I talk her into it. 🙂 –Curt
Such wonderful art! Happy new year C!! ❤️💕😊
Happy and Healthy New Year to you my friend!
❤️
Incredible, Cindy! I still love my dolls…but never had a dollhouse. Happy New Year! 🙂
Well that is a crime Bette that can be remedied! Do a google search for doll house kits and rest your creative brain upon this idea for a moment or two. Thankfully, it is never to late to make a dollhouse. Happy New Year Bette! We will be starting our fourth year together next year and I have loved every moment! <3
Beautiful and intricate design seen in the miniature sized houses. A far different kind of doll houses we have in the U.S. conformed to our life style and surroundings. 🙂 My father made doll houses for my daughter and I still have it, ready to give to my granddaughter when they find room for it. It is a very special and sentimental one, still.
I love all forms of dollhouses. The pioneer ones, the fairy and gnome houses, the adobe haciendas, the old Victorians. They are all wonderful. Every country seems to have their own unique versions. I also love dioramas, retablos, train villages, anything miniature. How wonderful that you have your own family heirloom ready to be passed on. That is special. Happiest New Year Joyce! <3
Thank you. You too, Cindy.
Amazing detail! Simply amazing! And perfectly caught!
Awww thank you and Happy New Year to you and your loved ones! I look forward to spending a virtual 2016 with you my friend~
I love miniatures, too. Loved playing with my daughter’s dollhouses when she was little.
Love your comment! The question is who loved them more, you or your daughter. I think it is awesome that you played with them and I know she did too! <3
We both still love them, and I’m looking forward to when we introduce her daughter to them. 🙂
My daughter now has a daughter, and we are looking forward to showing her our love of dollhouses.
Quite intricate … and Happy New Year to you and yours … may 2016 bring you may joys.
Thank you so much and the same to you! I have thoroughly enjoyed your company over the years my friend. Health & Happiness to you and yours~
I definitely see the appeal of creating a miniature world of my own to suit my tastes and indulge my fantasies! Now if only I can shrink myself so that I might be able to enjoy those marble floor and hand-painted wall frescos. Here’s to dreams! Happy New Year Cindy! ~Lynn
Yes, as a kid I wanted to be a Borrower, those tiny people that lived hidden in everyone’s house. They were the ultimate observers. I wonder if that’s why I became a shrink………
Happiest New Year Lynn and so look forward to 2016 with you my friend! <3
Hahaha! Nice play on words (“shrink”)! Thanks for the laugh, and I look forward to 2016 with you as well Cindy. Happy New Year! <3
You are clever to catch it! <3
This is fascinating Cindy!! such exquisite detail! My girls and I built dollhouses together for them years ago– but they looked nothing like these!! Dutch domestic art is my favorite– and these little houses and a different picture of the same themes. Great post. So glad you’ve gotten to travel and see so much! Happy New Year ahead!! xo
I like all dollhouses so I know I would have loved the one you and your girls built together. I did this with my daughter too and I really think I was probably more into it than she was!! 😉 😉 And I agree with you about the charm of Dutch domestic art~
Thanks for letting us in on your beautiful travels Cindy. xo
Thank you more for coming along with me~
I adore dollhouses! Unlike my own house, things stay right where you put them, and you don’t have to constantly clean house! I once gave a dollhouse kit to a niece as a gift and it was a wonderful project of bonding between the girl an her father! Go ahead….do it….it’s a new year! Many blessings for the new year to you and yours….
I love it so much when Dad’s get into to doing this with their daughters. What kinda of a very cool Dad is this!! I think Aunt Cynthia also sounds like a cool aunt. My son in law calls me a hipster, which I think is intended to be a humorous insult. Laughing…….but I will wear my hipster status proudly. Cool is cooler than hipster, don’t you think?
Happiest New Year dear friend and I look so forward to reading more of your incredibly moving poetry in 2016. Be well~
I like “hipster”…it’s so…so…”hip”!
Very cool too, me thinks……
Amsterdam is great fun, specially the dollhouses.
Nice posting.
Chapeau, nice posting
Thank you! Amsterdam in always a true pleasure to visit, as is all of Holland!
HAPPY NEW YEAR – MAY IT BE FILLED WITH PEACE, PROSPERITY AND HAPPINESS!
Visa versa 2 U Antionette and to your beautiful family! <3
Wunderbare Sujets, Cindy, Klasse…
Vielen Dank und Frohe nues Jahr mein lieber Freund Ernst!
These are entrancing and I would really love to see them. It is like getting a very special permission to go back in time. Thank you for showing them to us. Happy New year.
Yes, exactly, anything like this, I love too! Happiest New Year!
I can only imagine the skill involved in making these.
It is mind boggling to make it life sized, but imagining the process miniaturized is truly remarkable, I agree with you!
Yes, it’s truly an extraordinary craft.
Great detail in those photos, Cindy – I love miniature worlds!
Happy New Year to you!
Yep. I do too. We all have hidden God complexes! 😉 😉
That is so unbelievable that so much detail and intricate carving can be produced in miniature. They actually look like a full size house. Great photography Cindy to get such fine detail.
Yes, this perfect replication, really impressed me. Especially when I am zooming in on it and maginifying it in effect and it looks like a real, amazing home. Incredible artistry. Hope all is well with you Pauline and Happy New Year!
All’s well Cindy on our way home…
<3
What a treat you have brought to my eyes. I am sure you would have great fun with a doll’s house. Imagine all the little pieces you could pick up on your travels. 🙂 Am I naughty to tempt you? 😉
Oooooh, I didn’t think of this. I could make a travelers house. Now this thought will not leave my mind, especially since, there is no more room in my house for souvenirs!!! 😉 Yes, this is a deliciously naughty idea! Happiest New Year Mandy. We have celebrated at least three together now I think. I look forward to the fourth~
Happy to oblige. In fact I shall keep my eye out for NZ miniatures on your behalf! 😉
Yes, because I need to go back to Australia and New Zealand, considering all I missed the first time, and the wonderful friends I have in both places now, like you! <3
Lieber Gruß und alles gute wünsche ich zum neuen Jahr Glück und Gesundheit lieber Gruß und Umarmung Gislinde
Frohes neues Jahr fur Sie, mein lieber Freund Gislinde! <3 <3
We visited this museum and I don’t remember the dollhouses – but it was a long time ago. Fascinating and just beautiful. Happy New Year Cindy!
Well, the museum is incredible, with or without the dollhouses, so I am glad you had the opportunity to visit and wish you The Happiest New Year my friend~
The detail and beauty of these dollhouses is astounding.
Yes. Exactly. You know there are antique dollhouses all over the world. I think it would be incredible to take a trip to see as many as possible within a designated time frame.
O am fascinated by the doll houses you featured. I did fairly well with my parents and I getting furniture and people for my 2 girls’ dollhouse. When they out grew it, I regret only a little, we gave it to a family who had just had twin granddaughters. Now that I have grandies, I think about it more. We had the porcelain claw-toed feet bathtub, etc 🙂 These are both fabulous, Cindy. I am happy they are displayed where everyone can see. Smiles, Robin
Oh, I can imagine the regret at not keeping your dollhouse Robin, but I also see the generous heart that motivated you to gift it to other little girls. This is a reflection of how I preceive you Robin. Kind and generous. Happiest New Year my friend~
I’m dying here! I’ve been twice to the Rijksmuseum and the line-up was around the block so I walked on by and visited the Van Gogh instead. Now I know better. Next opportunity I will stand in that line just to get to see these miniatures. I *love* miniatures, and these are obviously exquisite examples. I so want to see them. Have you been to Madurodam? If not you must go next time you’re in the Netherlands – all the iconic buildings of the country in miniature. Thank you for sharing this. It’s now on the ever-growing list!
Alison
Hah!! Considering our life style, our travels, our values, it shouldn’t surprise me that you love miniatures too. But it does. Amazing that you love them too and no I haven’t been to Madurodam, or the miniature village in Britain or Germany. I want to go to all of course, just as you do, and it is probable that either you or I, or both will actually go!! How cool is that?
The Rijksmuseum is best visited off season, not in spring or summer, just like the Ufizzi. If you go in mid-late November, you will see the Christmas markets and there will be no crowds, no lines, and you’ll have the dollhouses to yourself as you should. Happy New Year Alison! <3 <3
Happy New Year to you too Cindy.
xoxox
If I didn’t know better the doll house looks like a real home! Wow what detail!
Exactly! Isn’t that remarkable!
This is simply amazing ~ so life-like, with the detail of the woodwork, the drapes/canopies it is hard to believe that first someone would have such artistic talent to pull off such a feat and then to learn that what I am seeing was made in the 17th century. Wish I lived in such a place 🙂
Wishing you a beautiful and happy New Year Cindy ~ what a great year it was for you with your travels and most impressively your photography, and we all thank you for sharing it all with us. I believe 2016 will carry even more magic for us. Take care ~
You are a joy Randall. Blogging is such a gift isn’t it. It enables like minded people to make connections with each other all over this amazing world. You and I would never have crossed paths in the real world unless we were at the same spot taking phtographs and then we wouldn’t be talking to each other! Your last set was just inspiring. And yes, it blows me away that this Dutch woman made this house as a hobby and maybe never had an idea that 350 years later it would be in a world famous museum seen and admired by people all over the world, photographed and posted by a Hollerite woman from California in her blog, causing more people to be amazed at her talent.
What an amazing world, and what circularity of time.
Happiest New Year to you Randall. I so look forward to sharing 2016 virtually with you~
The detail work in the miniatures is remarkable. On the more practical side, to keep them from collecting dust must be a constant process.
Yes on both points, and just to keep them for over 300 years is quite an accomplishment!
In my house, the detail work would have cat fur after one day … and maybe something taken out as a toy. 🙂
Laughing, in mine it would be dog hairs and chewed 17th century furniture! Not good. Laughing…….
Exquisite!
I wonder if there is a word in German that captures intricate, fascinating and darn cute! You captured it all Cindy so well.
Sending you a chickie hug 🐥
How about faszinierend? It means fascinating. <3 Hugs back to you~
Perfect! ☺️ Thanks Cindy. You are pretty fasziniernend yourself!
I was lucky enough to see these intricate dolls houses in the Rijksmuseum in September 2015. They are amazing and so beautiful.
Oh wonderful. I saw them about three months after you did!
These are such exquisite pieces of art. The craftspeople who made them were so talented!
It connects us immediately to these people from so long ago, and when we measure our own culture today by this standard, it seems to fall short~
Fascinating. Great museum, The Night Watch and all. The student and enthusiast of miniatures would be advised to visit The National Museum of Toys / Miniatures in Kansas City. It’s loaded. http://toyandminiaturemuseum.org/collections
Oh my gosh, I was there, saw the Olmstead’s but totally missed this. I need to go back. I’m craving food in the nearby Amish towns in Iowa anyway. This is wonderful. Thank you for the lead John and Happiest New Year to you my friend~
I’m not familiar with the Olmstead unless you’re referring to Frederick Law Olmsted’s work on the park surrounding the superb Liberty Memorial (now The National WWI Museum and Memorial). The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is worth a visit to view specific famous pieces. The Truman Presidential Library and the Arabia Steamboat Museum are notable.
Wonderful miniatures, Cindy. Isn’t the Reijksmuseum a great world-class museum? They have some miniature rooms in the Art Institute in Chicago, but they are mostly American.
American is good too. I love all miniatures and want to see more so thank you for the lead. My family is from Chicago. I was the only one in my generation not born there and I haven’t been back since I was a kid. So a trip to the midwest, considering John’s comment above, seems indicated! Thank you~
Oh this is exquisite, Cindy! I would stand and stare for hours.
Wishing you a happy New Year!
Inese
I only went back like three times!!! Laughing……
Oh I believe 🙂
<3
Wonderfully presented miniatures, Cindy. I love miniatures, but i do not think I ever saw these. Many years since I visited as well. I always wonder if it’s men who made them or women? I guess it would have been men in those days. And I love the idea of making a traveler’s house!
And I wish you all the best for the New Year!
I love Mandy’s idea of a travelers house too! This would be so much fun.
I think these houses were one of the few ways women were allowed to be creative and artistic during this time frame. Both these houses were reportedly designed, implemented and overseen by their female creators. Men of this era made curiosity cabinets as similar hobbies. Your thought provoking comment reminded me of Artemisia Gentileschi the
Italian painter (1593-1652). She was one of a small group of influential female artists of the Renaissance. She was trained by her father, raped by a mentor, tried, tortured and exonerated for the rape during a seven month trial. For a long time her work was said to be done by a male artist, until finally she and her work received the recognition it so deserved. I suspect there were other female artists of the era whose work was passed off as done by a male, rather than the other way around. Thank you for spurring this train of thought Leya and Happiest of New Years my friend. I look forward to our shared blogging journey in 2016. <3
Of course there must have been rather many women who never were recognized for their work. It was not long time ago that women could not write either…stand as authors of novels or poetry using their own name. So, some improvements there are…
Thank you for sharing your amazing work 🙂 Happy 2016 Cindy <3
Thank you more for the kind appreciation, but the credit clearly goes to the amazing two women who made these houses. I just snapped the fotos. Happiest 2016 to you my friend and I look forward to the year together. <3
<3 <3 You captured their work perfectly through your lens! Cheers to 2016!
It’s amazing how intricate the dollhouse decor and furnishings were. Happy New Year!
The intricacy is incredible and the more amazing that it was done in miniature, in this time frame, by a woman as a hobby, and passed through the generations and saved. Yes this is incredible! All the best to you Sheryl in 2016!
Wow these are so cool! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you more for the thoughtful appreciation Lyn!
I love these pictures so cute!
<3
Makes me wish I was a doll! Beautiful hardwood floors. Marble floors? The curtains! The art!
These photos are wonderful.
Lucky dolls get to live there forever! 😉
Wow this is amazing to think such detail in miniatures. I love these. Happy 2016 to you Cindy! Blessings to you! 💜😄
Blessings to you Michele and only the best in 2016!
Oh thank you Cindy right back to you! <3
Those doll houses are beautiful! So ornate and fine craftsmanship.
The attention to detail is incredible isn’t it! I was blown away…..
Just exquisite!
Yes! I agree with you. <3
Happy New Years Cindy – these miniatures are amazing, the craftmanship. Would be something to see them in person.
I hope you go and I wonder how it would impact the artist in you. In wonderful ways I know.
Hi Cindy, I have a dollhouse that I worked on with the kids–it’s very fun, and we love it for all the reasons you mentioned. Thanks for sharing this. Best wishes for a Happy New Year!
Wonderful memories that will live on in all of you! I hope you keep it and pass it on down through your family. Happiest New Year Naomi!
No worries there! It is packed away for now, but there will come a day when I have more time to take it out to play with, with or without grandchildren. Thanks for the good wishes, and the same for you and your family!
I wish you a healthy happy new year ….❤️❤️❤️
And to you my friend. I have so enjoyed sharing 2015 with you!
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Some beautiful dollhouses…wonderful details!
🙂
So thoughtful of you and so pleased you enjoyed them as I did! Thank you & Happy New Year~
Well these doll houses certainly raise the bar…How delightful!
(Wait – a way to have a nice house without worrying about the dog’s muddy feet…real potential for a calm and sense of stylish accomplishment without pet destruction/interference! Ha Ha)
Hope your new year is fill with great adventures and wonder
Exactly! Plus no dishes to wash, bathrooms to clean, laundry to wash or gardens to water. It is perfect and perfectly clean at all times. This is why they are pluperfect in every way!! 😉 😉
Happiest and healthiest New Year to you my friend~
Happy New Year precious friend. I am visiting just a few friends though I am not posting. I want you to know you’re always thought of. xo This post is beautiful!!
Oh my gosh, I saw your name and went to your blog hoping to find you and left a message which I don’t know if you’ll receive. It was so wonderful to see your handle Belinda and know you are out there somewhere. I hope you have sensed that I have been thinking about you regularly and sending you my healing thoughts and prayers.
Thank you so much for checking in. You are in my thoughts, in my prayers, and in my heart. <3 <3 <3
Hi Cindy, thank you for this beautiful message. You have moved me deeply. I am not ready to start blogging but I did visit about six sites today, it felt really good. Huge hugs and blessings.
Love and best wishes back to you Belinda~
I’m so stunned by the details of the miniatures. How incredible, Cindy! Can’t imaging the effort and time they spent… Great images of these beautiful dollhouses. 🙂
Happy New Year to you and yours, Cindy!
Hi Cindy. beauiful photos, a fairy tale from a kingdom of dolls. Happy 2016. Wanda
“A Fairy Tale From a Kingdom of Dolls!” What an awesome title! All the best in 2016~ <3
Amazing dolls houses 🙂 I love being transported back through time here….shame we can’t shrink to fit inside and see what life would be like if we were living it ourselves!
I don’t ask for much in life. I would like to time travel, be able to beam instantly all over the globe to eat, be able to shrink and go around un-noticed, win the lottery, and be able to spend the night in any place in the world that I choose, think Sistine Chapel. It’s not asking for much and I don’t see why I can’t have these things. You, after all, get to fly over all multiple universes with your wolf.
😀 No it’s not much to ask at all…all perfectly reasonable and fair and nothing less than any thinking human being would realistically and understandably expect in their day to day existence 😉 😀 I certainly don’t think anyone would see any reason whatsoever why you shouldn’t have such reasonable, down to earth demands…I mean expectations lol … met 🙂 😀
Wow, this is amazing. All the details are beautifully captured in all your photos. Happy New Year, Cindy!
Happy New Year and so pleased you enjoyed Amy. Looking forward to following you in 2016!
I’ve always wanted a doll house. I’ve never seen ones like these before. Amazing craftsmanship. I’ve been staring at them. I like the room with the miniature china the best. I can imagine myself siting there and eating off those plates. Fantastic!
Ms. Oortman comissioned china from that room from China! Incredible, in the 1600’s! I love the room too~
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Just wow..how perfectly fashioned, such patience must have been required. Thank you for sharing. Happy New Year 🙂
Patience, comittment and money. I need more of all three!!! 😉 😉
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Lovely museum!
It is isn’ it!
Sending best wishes for a playful New Year filled with fun and excitement. (lots of fabulous photos and new stories too!) love, Eddie
Oh I love you New Years wishes Eddie. Thank you so much my friend and only the best you in 2016!
They are so cute. 🙂 I would have wanted one when I was little. I hope you’ve had a beautiful start of the year, Cindy, and I wish you an entire beautiful 2016! <3
If I had this doll house as a child, I would have been cramming Barbie into the dining room. 😉 😉 Love to meet you this year my friend and look forward to following you in 2016! All the best to you in the coming year~ <3
You are so cute, Cindy <3 And always kind with me. Many kisses to you :* All the best to you, too!
The detail is amazing!
Yes, in some of the photos you can’t tell it’s not a real house!
This is fasinating! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you much more for appreciating & Happiest New Year to you!
Love traveling with you Cindy. Happy new year to you too!
Fabulous tiny paintings and furniture.
Can you get over the miniature frescoes, ceiling and wall art. Really stunning!
Hello Cindy! Gorgeous. I can’t believe all the intricate details. These doll houses are amazing. Happy New Year! 😀 xx
Happiest New Year to you Vashti. I so look forward to following you in 2016!
These are truly amazing! From your photos they look like real rooms.
That struck me too. In Oortman’s house, in the photos, they look like a real home. This is because she was meticulous about making everything to perfect scale. It is quite impressive~
amazing work,thanks cindy
So glad you see them as I do and cheers to you~
Wow! I mean, WOW! So beautiful, intricate and detailed. I’ve got so much catching up to do. We got moved to north Georgia but we’ve still got a lot of boxes to get through yet. It’s so cold here; I keep wondering if I’ll get used to it. Not easy going from 85 to 35. It was 19 this morning when I got up. Anyway, I wanted to say hi and I’ll be back soon hopefully! I hope you and yours had a fabulous Christmas and New Year celebration! Hugs! 😀 <3
I can’t wait to see your beautiful new home! I can well imagine the transition to colder temps is quite an adjustment. 19 is downright nippy! But you new place is so gorgeous, I am super excited for you and look forward to your photos. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year thank you and hope you did too. All the best to you Linda and great to hear from you!
Cindy, I just wanted to say keep well in 2016!
You too my friend. Only the best!
I can’t believe such beauty exists in a ‘doll’ house! Therefore, I plan to live there! So much detail, quality, and mesmerizing-ness— I must have it!!!! Just kidding, but wow, those pictures blow me away-
I follow your logic completely and believe you too! <3
They are beautiful! Oh, wouldn’t my granddaughters just love to get their hands on them!
Oh I can well imagine!!! 🙂
I remember some time ago and the Mexican (?) dollhouses you photographed, and you confessed how much you like the mini houses. This is a spectacular version, and very interesting, of the mini dollhouses. 🙂
Yes, and did I tell you, I deleted photos from my wordpress gallery to free up room, not knowing it would remove them from already posted posts. I lost 50% of my blog posts including all the posts on miniatures from around the world! Errrgh!
Oh dear, how awful. But your photos were so memorable, I still have them in my head. 🙂
Oh good, your head is a good place to be! 🙂
Happy New Year, I love my dolls house, it was a flat pack that was built and painted and wallpapered it took years to do and the best bit was going to the market and fairs to buy the tiny furniture bit by bit. It’s a great hobby and you can do it a little at a time by getting the basement, then next birthday the first floor shops.
Great photos.
It sounds wonderful and so engrossing. I can tell you were raised in a very art and music focused family which I noted with your brother and your Christmas wands. Seems delightfully idyllic~
Those are beautiful. Such artistry and patience when into them.
I knew you especially would love them Brenda and I am glad to be correct! <3
I bet you’re right a lot. 😉
Only on some things unfortunately! Of course I know I am not going to win the 1.3 billion dollar lotto, but that’s only because I didn’t buy a lotto ticket. Of course I didn’t buy it because……. 😉 😉
Thank you very much, Cindy, for these images from the Rijksmuseum, which was closed when we were in Amsterdam. I love this fairytale atmoshpere!
We must have been there in the same time period when it was closed for rennovation. We went back!
sono stata anche io in Olanda da poco, anche se conoscevo già Amsterdam ed il mio itinerario è stato diverso.Ho apprezzato molto questo tuo reportage per la giusta espressione dello spirito olandese espresso con le immagini, colgo l’occasione per augurarti un felice 2016!
L’Olanda è un paese bellissimo . Continuo a tornare a visitare! Sono cosi felice che tu ami troppo. Felice Anno Nuovo mio amica!
Not to mention the advantage that these tiny, perfect homes are SO much easier to keep clean! Happy New Year, Cindy.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
-ADD Coach Training Field founder/ADD Coaching co-founder-
“It takes a village to transform a world!”
Yes that is a definite benefit! 😉
😀
wow, those little houses or curiosities were freaking awesome! the detail and the time and patience it must have taken to make them is unreal, and the they have survived for so long. thank you for bringing them to us. xx Paris
So glad to know you appreciated the uniqueness as I did Paris and thank you so much for stopping by!
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Thank you for your visit Cindy. 🙂
Visiting your blog is always a pleasure Ranu. Happy Sunday my friend~ <3
So cool!
^^’
Thank you for posting these – yes they are fascinating and as you say a time capsule. So much detail. Its like looking at a house of the time without getting tired feet.
Yes, what a lovely analogy and it is just like that! Thank you and cheers to you~
Thank you for sharing…Wonderful…
Really pleased you enjoyed them and thank you!
You’re welcome
beautiful pictures…like paintings ..Dear Cindy..
Have a great year…
warmly
sriram
Visa versa 2 U X 2 my friend!
Mágico!
Obrigada mi amiga amica!