17th and 18th Century Dutch Doll Houses at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

During the 17th and 18th Century in the Netherlands, specially in Amsterdam some of the greatest and most luxurious doll houses were created, although they were not meant to be toys for children but as show off display pieces in the houses of wealthy ladies.

This houses present the context of a rich dutch household and it emphasizes on the activity of women, in their daily life and it provides a great deal of information about furniture design, or clothing at the time. characters stand there as if they were stills from a stop motion animation, at least that's how I pictured it.

I have always had a special feeling for miniatures, and specially reaaally detailed everyday life furniture and situations, even if it looks very theatrical and luscious, it might even be a replica of an actual household, which is quite extravagant to say the least. 

Jacob  Appel (1680-1751)

Doll's House of Petronella Oortman

Oil on parchment laid down on canvas 1710.

The wealthy families who aquired the houses, also had paintings made of their own doll houses, in this case we get to see both, the actual house and the painting, which of course has some differences and restauration work, also the original characters changed.