Dolls' House of Petronella Oortman

In March 1686 Petronella Oortman, a young widow in Amsterdam, married the silk merchant Johannes Brandt, and around that time she started the project that would occupy her for about 25 years. The Rijksmuseum stresses that this was a display piece for adults, a picture of how a wealthy Amsterdam household ought to look. The case alone is luxury furniture, oak veneered in tortoiseshell and laced with thin pewter tendrils, built by a cabinetmaker from France who worked in the city for a few years. Behind the glazed doors are nine rooms on three floors, furnished by dozens of specialists, from basket weavers to silversmiths and glassblowers, each working in real materials at the right scale. At the bottom left is the best kitchen, kept for show, its dresser lined with blue-and-white porcelain. The actual cooking belonged to the narrow working kitchen next door, with its open hearth and brass kettle.