JH Reference Library: Mini as Mood
For the love of miniature things — a study of paradoxically precious tiny objects from history (and why we're drawn to them...)
Psychological evidence helps us understand the universal draw to miniatures as rooted in fantasy and control, offering opportunities to imagine particularized arrangements on your own terms.
“Miniature objects are…paradoxically precious. Those meticulously crafted items stir within us intense nostalgia for things past. Indeed, many collectors and builders first encountered miniatures as children, and that fondness never left them.” (Rachel Nuwer © 2015)
Portrait of a Left Eye. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
1. LOVER’S EYE JEWELRY: Miniature portraits of “lover’s eyes,” en vogue in Britain in the late 18th century, were commissioned as gifts expressing devotion between loved ones. The portraits were often added to pearl-encrusted rings, or ornate charms, and were meant to be tucked into pockets, or pinned close to the heart.
Fourteen Akan Goldweights, Southern ghana, c/o Newman Collection, Montclair Art Museum.
2. AKAN GOLDWEIGHTS: Miniature brass weights used as a measuring system by the Akan people of West Africa for weighing materials like gold dust, a requited form of currency that was eventually replaced by paper money and coins.
Shabti Statues, Louvre Museum, photo by Francesco Dazzi.
3. FUNERARY FIGURES: Ancient Egyptian tombs excavated in the 19th century revealed droves of meticulously crafted miniatures; “shrunken mirror replicas arranged alongside life-size versions of the same religious paraphernalia.” (Rachel Nuwer © 2015)
Along with scarab amulets, miniature funerary figures were among the most numerous Egyptian antiquities to survive.
JH Baby Pendant Necklace
Miniature Chair, Peter Carl Fabergé, circa 1896-1906, Cleveland Museum of Art.
Dollhouse of Petronella Oortman, Rikjsmuseum/Wikimedia Commons.
4. DOLLHOUSES: Some of the earliest dollhouse models, or “baby houses,” date back 400 years. The custom-built miniature cabinets opened up to display pocket-sized rooms with opulent furnishings: “Dollhouses, experts believe, give people places to build the lives they will never be able to experience in full-size.” (JR Thorpe, Bustle)
A miniature book bound in tortoiseshell, Basel, circa 1659.
E-15: English Drawing Room of the Modern Period, James ward thorne, 1937.
5. MINI ROOMS: Speaking of accoutrements for daily living, “The 68 Thorne Miniature Rooms” on permanent exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago re-create European interiors from the late 13th century through the 1930s. This realistic portrayal of a drawing room is at 1:12 human scale.
J.Hannah mini furniture
J.Hannah mini furniture