Small is beautiful they say, so can that apply to any and
everything. Large can also be beautiful, but perhaps not in the same way or for
the same reasons. Large manages to grab the lime light in being generous,
extravagant, and influential. Only when the tiny virus became pandemic did the
world see it as important. Small rarely hits you between the eyes, and has more
often than not a negative context which leads it to be seen as unimportant and
of little value. Despite this the attraction of small can be clearly seen in
our fascination with bonsai trees or the demand for breeding miniature lap dogs.
Back in the 16th century Little Masters referred to a group of
engravers renowned for their small scale prints. In the late 18th
century minuscule scripted versions of the Lord’s Prayer and psalms were
written in the space of a halfpenny and penny. Some have taken it to extremes
with what can be put on the head of a pin or miniature landscapes painted on the
wings of bees.
My own fascination for little things has for many years taken the form of dolls houses. While the playing with pre-action man dolls was still regarded as girl’s territory, the doll’s house was tolerated. As a child I was always fascinated by my only girl cousin Ann’s timber framed dolls house that even had the sophistication of electric lights. Later during an outing from weekly boarding school to Burford Museum I encountered a magnificent 18th century example of the Mansion House. The intrigue was immediate. A few years later at the age of fifteen I bid on a very large dolls house at W.H. Lanes saleroom down in Penzance. The most I could afford was £100, but as usual I raised my hand a couple more time, taking the bidding to £130, then had to let it go. During my time as an antique dealer I bought several unusual doll’s houses and almost all went to museums.
The one I chose to keep was made in the first quarter of the 19th century and still retained its original brick painted exterior. There was no contents, but having managed to collect many period pieces I added to these with my own miniature furniture making. I’ve also made several dolls houses and am still adding a few sticks of furniture to the latest one. The most recent addition has been a bed, table and two stick back chairs. These are fashion from odd bits of kindling wood using a fretsaw, drill and Stanley knife. Something to amuse during those long winter evenings without television.
Small requires and deserves a closer look and it is in that
disbelieving intrigue that little can become large, as this past year has all
too clearly demonstrated. There is something fascinating about the miniature
and it’s intricately fiddly fabrication. Last year I was commissioned to make
some shell furniture for a doll’s house requiring the tiniest of shells from
the beach. They are there, but you have to stop, take time to sit in the sand
at the high tide mark and look closer.
