British Maitland & Glascoe Diminutive Mahogany Drop-Front Secretary Desk. A remarkable piece of work, with many working brass hinges and handles, and numerous drawers carved in exquisite detail. A metal label affixed to the bottom gives the makers, based in London and Seoul.
Condition: Commensurate with age.
Size: 17 1/2 x 10 x 18 1/4 in.
The tradition of making diminutive furniture, or miniature furniture as it is also known, has origins in Europe, particularly in Germany as early as the 13th Century. These pieces were not considered toys, but were instead used to teach young girls how to take care of a household, on a smaller scale. Although miniature figures and objects have existed since antiquity, as observed in the tombs of Pharaohs and Chinese Emperors, it wasn’t until the 17th Century that they began to be produced in exquisite detail, with elaborate multi-drawer cabinets, tableware sets, and even whole rooms crafted with minute working parts and pieces. In the early 18th Century the style began to emerge in the Americas, and by the 19th Century it was an industry of its own, as salesmen began to travel with the diminutive works to easily show potential buyers what a piece of furniture would look like without the customer needing to travel to a store to look at them. Commonplace furnishings such as desks, chests, pie safes, and chairs demonstrated remarkable carpentry skills, but by the 20th Century the style had shifted more towards the dollhouses which remain popular to this day, growing more simple and streamlined as they began to be mass-produced. Today these diminutive pieces are considered rare and extremely prized by collectors, showcasing a lost art from an earlier era.
Commensurate with age.
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