Angeline Life: 五月 2009

2009年5月22日星期五

History

Miniature homes, furnished with domestic articles and resident inhabitants (both people and animals), have been made for thousands of years. The earliest known examples were found in the Egyptian Tombs of the Old Kingdom, created nearly five thousand years ago. These wooden models of servants, furnishings, boats, livestock and pets placed in the Pyramids almost certainly were made for religious purposes. The earliest known European dollhouses are from the Sixteenth Century. These baby or cabinet houses showed idealized interiors complete with extremely detailed furnishings and accessories (mostly hand made).

The early European dollhouses were each unique, constructed on a custom basis by individual craftsmen. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, factories began mass producing toys, including dollhouses and miniatures suitable for furnishing them. German companies noted for their dollhouses included Christian Hacker, Moritz Gottschalk, Elastolin, and Moritz Reichel. The list of important English companies includes Siber & Fleming, Evans & Cartwright, and Lines Brothers (which became Tri-ang). By the end of the nineteenth century American dollhouses were being made in the United States by The Bliss Manufacturing Company.

Germany was the producer of the most prized dollhouses and doll house miniatures up until The Great War. Notable German miniature companies included Marklin, Rock and Garner and others. Their products were not only avidly collected in Central Europe, but regularly exported to Britain and North America. Germany's involvement in WWI seriously impeded both production and export. New manufacturers in other countries arose.

The TynieToy Company of Providence, Rhode Island, made authentic replicas of American antique houses and furniture in a uniform scale beginning in about 1917.[3] Other American companies of the early twentieth century were Roger Williams Toys, Tootsietoy, Schoenhut, and the Wisconsin Toy Co. Dollhouse dolls and miniatures were also produced in Japan, mostly by copying original German designs.

After World War II, dollshouses became mass produced in factories on a much larger scale with less detailed craftsmanship than ever before. By the 1950s, the typical dollhouse sold commercially was made of painted sheet metal filled with plastic furniture. Such houses cost little enough that the great majority of girls from the developed western countries that were not struggling with rebuilding after World War II could own one.javascript:void(0)

Above information are take from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doll_house

袖珍艺术历史

約在1920年時，當紐約大都會博物館研究人員的火把照亮埃及王室的地下陵墓，發現了總數23件的袖珍家具，袖珍藝術的起源至少距今已有3000多年的歷史了！在人類的天性裡面似乎隱藏著特別喜愛微小物品的基因，尤其是一些精緻的工藝品。在20世紀之前，這些貴重的藝術品大多是屬於王室與貴族成員的專利品，許多巧手工匠，傾一生之力所創作的藝術品往往只為了能滿足少數人的私慾。

娃娃屋於16世紀於德國誕生之初，僅限於在王室與貴族之間流傳，這種情況就好比當時中國的一些工藝品如瓷器、玉器、鼻煙壺、象牙雕、毫芒雕刻，也是只有帝王、諸侯，將相之家及少數富商才能擁有這些珍貴的藝品，一般平民百姓可沒有機會與能力一窺這些昂貴的寶物。

娃娃屋在傳入英國之後才慢慢地走出貴族高聳的城牆，進入平民百姓之家，成為一種家庭休閒嗜好，那時已經是十九世紀了！二十世紀的美國擁有得天獨厚的地理環境與強勢的經濟發展，重視家庭生活的美國人提供了娃娃屋一個發展的絕佳環境，於是乎這個起源於德國的娃娃屋藝術，終在美國發揚光大，成為人見人愛的藝術形式。

如果曾經看過歐美以家庭為題材的電影，不難發現幾乎每個家庭至少都會有一座娃娃屋，陳設於居家環境之中，娃娃屋在家庭裡扮演著彼此溝通的橋樑角色，親子之間的關係，藉由建構娃娃屋的互動性功能，作了最直接的情感交流，增進親子間的瞭解、信任及建立良好的溝通管道。娃娃屋就像是整個家庭的縮影，許多人喜歡把娃娃屋的整體結構，照著自己實際居住空間的規劃作等比例縮小，更增添其趣味性。

每個家庭的成員把對家的感情延伸至娃娃屋之中，一家人濃厚的情感在此凝聚出密不可分的向心力與認同感。娃娃屋雖然只是一種家庭嗜好，在家庭教育上卻有著潛移默化的功能，這也是四百年前娃娃屋誕生時的基本精神之一，家長藉著與孩童一起布置娃娃屋的家庭活動，培養孩童獨立自主精神，特別是可以訓練孩子們做家事與對家庭負責任的認知，到了退休年齡的銀髮族，同樣能在製作娃娃屋的過程中，永保年輕與健康的心，在既動腦又動手的情況中，能有一個良性且健康的身心發展。

袖珍工房：蔡旺達（資料提供：前袖珍博物館曹館長）