Outstanding Fully Furnished 19th-Century Dollhouse from Original Paris Estate
Lot #313
55"h. x 38"w. x 16 ""d. A three-story six-room wooden dollhouse with original cream/grey painted finish to suggest stone has a steepled roof with small door opening to an attic, and double stack chimneys. There are two large "wall" panels at the front that hinge open for exhibit, and heavy cast handles for carrying at the sides. Each room has one large four-paneled floor-to-ceiling window at the back. The house has six rooms, two on each floor, and a center hallway on the ground floor. An unusually wide doorway with cast-hinged door is between the rooms on each floor. Each room is richly furnished, as follows: Top left: silk wallpaper with matching silk draperies having fringe and tassel trim; luxury ebony-finished furniture from Badeuille with gilt paper appliques to simulate bronze, comprising credenza, piano, table, settee and four chairs with original upholstery; fireplace with gilded tin pressed mirror and crystal and gilt metal chandelier. Top right: textured wallpaper with velvet fringed draperies, having a matching chandelier to opposite room, and furnished with a faux-marble fireplace below a mirror, high canopy bed with matching table, and four chairs, and jardiniere, paper mache portable stove, and various accessories. Middle floor left: silk wallpaper with silk draperies having fringed edging, silver chandelier, fireplace with faux-bamboo gilt metal mirror, another matching mirror, sofa and four chairs with raised carving details and leather seats, four various cupboards and tables, and various accessories including mirrors, birdcage, candlesticks. Middle floor right: textured wallpaper and parquet-patterned paper floor, with silk draperies, fireplace with mirror, and furnished with an early set of Biedemeier faux-rosewood bed and washstand, lady's writing desk, table and five chairs, sewing table, superb mirror-front armoire, and various gilded soft metal pieces including rocking chair, towel bar and letter holder. Ground floor left: kitchen with various cupboards, stove, table, bench, and a multitude of cooking pots, dishes, and utensils. Ground floor right and hallway: richly patterned paper floor, the room containing fireplace and mirror along with a set of Badeuille furnishings with natural finish decorated with decoupage designs and gilt edging, comprising pianoforte, cupboard, fernery, table, settee and four chairs that are covered with unusual luxury mauve velvet, and ormolu accessories. Very good/excellent condition, no restoration or re-work of any kind, some typical minor play wear to small pieces, some water damage to corner sections of silk wallpaper. The house and contents are sold as found from the garret of their home on Rue Joseph Bara in the 6th arrondissement of Paris where they have been preserved by their original family owners, the Hecht family, for well more than a century, offering a charming "moment in time" vision of an opulent late 19th century Parisian home.
