Girl in a White Pinafore and Freckles the Cocker Spaniel
A very good and well contained shape for a dummy board, this life-sized figure is at present displayed in the privately owned Shelburne Museum in Vermont U.S.A., part of the Darley-Bolt bequest. It has been very simply painted in oils on canvas mounted on a board and it may even have been cut out of an earlier painting -a practice well established in the 17th century. It shows a pretty young girl in Edwardian dress and is undoubtedly a portrait figure. Influenced by the Impressionist fashion of the early twentieth century, the artist has sketchily painted the ruffled collar of the girl’s dress and the stiff linen of her apron using visible brush strokes, laying the white paint on thickly in places where the light strikes the folds. This young lady would grace the sitting room of any well to do 19th or 20th century miniature home or would be a decorative onlooker to the ‘goings on’ in the playroom of her younger fellows. She would also be equally at home in the garden. Freckles the Cocker Spaniel This life sized dummy board belongs to the lady who once owned Freckles and was made in 1960 in Preston Lancashire in the U.K. by a local artist, Nora Deeping. It is unique in that it is painted in oils on and cut out of, thick glass and as a result is incredibly vibrant and realistic, the base being see through.Historically, cats and dogs were by far the most commonly painted dummy boards. Sadly, because they were usually quite small they were often used as chimney boards to be inserted into the grate when the fire was not lit, and were often damaged and then discarded and so have not survived in anything like the numbers we might expect. Spaniels, Retrievers and Pointers are quite often found as dummy boards but nothing quite as unusual as little Freckles. If you would like to purchase an item, or if you have a question, please contact Susanne. Girl size 3.75 inches (98 mm) £80.00. Freckles size 1.75 ins. (45mm) £35.00 |
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Girl in a White Pinafore