Dollhouses originated in the 17th century. In this time, dollhouses were not toys for children; rather, they were for adults to play with. Only very wealthy adults could afford these antique dollhouses due to their incredible detail.
These dollhouses were commonly built to fit perfectly inside a cabinet. This way, after the adults were done playing with the dollhouse, they could put it out of sight. It would look like another piece of furniture in the room, but when opened up, the miniature rooms of the dollhouse would be visible.
Each room contained miniature furniture made with exquisite craftsmanship.
In the 19th century, dollhouses became a plaything for children of wealthy families. The dollhouses still included exquisite detail such as needlepoint rugs and elegant wooden furniture. These dollhouses are obviously out of scale; the furnishings appear very imbalanced and look very sloppy to the modern eye.
|
|
|
By the 20th century, dollhouses began to be built to one of two standard scales: 1:12 or 1:24. This began with the dollhouses that were built for Queen Mary in the 1920s.
The 1950s saw the trend of plastic dollhouse furniture; the 1960s thrived with metal dollhouses. Since the 1970s, dollhouses have stayed steadily popular and grown even more detailed and exquisite.
If you have items like these for sale, you may advertise them on this page.
If you know additional helpful facts on this subject, contact us!
Go back to Glossary Main Page.
|
