Today we are visiting an antique doll family in their beautiful Art Nouveau parlour. They are just about to enjoy a lovely dessert. It is all laid out on the table.
The wooden treen dishes are hand painted and the wine glasses are hand blown. Both sets were made in Germany. The large serving spoon is sterling silver. The plaster cake sits on a soft metal plate. Most of these items are German, from circa 1900, as are the other accessories in the photos.
Mother, and daughter, Mildred, are Simon and Halbig glass-eyed dolls (number 1160) made around 1900. Mildred is wearing a pink dress with a black bow. It was made for her by her first child owner over 100 years ago.
The skirt part of mother's dress was made by the same child.
Father, and son, Edgar, are wearing their original factory made outfits. They were also made in Germany around 1900. Father came to me in his original box. I don't believe he had ever been played with.
The parlour suite is in wonderful condition for its age. It was made in Germany. Collector and author. Swantje Kohler says the set was made by the Schneegass company in pure "Jugendstil" (Art Nouveau) about 1900. They made it in different wood colours and in red too (1908).
The style is very different from other furniture in my collection from the same time period. More pictures are below.
The large jugs on the right are, Swantje Köhler tells me, are "special beer jugs (in German: Bierkanne). In former times people used them to go to a beer bar to buy fresh open beer to drink at home. Often this was the task of young boys. They were allowed to drink the beer foam."
Perhaps little Edgar has just brought back the beer for the family dinner.
Three of the five chairs have arms and are slightly larger.
The other two chairs are smaller without arms. I have heard the smaller parlour chairs called Lady chairs while the larger ones are called Gentlemen chars.
I found this tiny dragon vase recently. I don't know if it is as old as the rest of the accessories, but I think it looks great here. The roses are new, but a perfect scale for it.
Here are some close-ups of the furniture. The rug is not old, but it matches the room very well. I found it in the gift shop of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna when I was on the wonderful TLC Doll tour last spring.
I also found these gorgeous old drapes, complete with antique curtain rod and clips in Germany last spring when the TLC tour went to the doll festival.
I think they are incredible in their completeness.
The family is seated so Mother can serve the cake with the sauce
The light fixture is also German from circa 1900.
I found the 'Made in Japan' dog at a flea market. I loved it's regal pose and thought it would look great in a dollhouse. When the seller told me she wanted $10 for it I answered in disbelief, "But its legs have been broken off and glued back on!"
She took a closer look at it and said she hadn't noticed that before. Then she just gave it to me. I was delighted and now it lives in my dollhouse land, as regal as it was always meant to be.
I hope you enjoyed the visit. Come back soon.
Hugs,
Susan
