Object details
Object number
F18n11
Creator(s)
English
Title
Dummy Board: Young Woman Holding a Spaniel and a Basket of Roses
Date
19th century
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
96.5 x 34.5 cm (38 x 13 9/16 in.)
Provenance
Entered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection by about 1900.
Commentary
Dummy boards, also known as picture boards or silent companions, were produced in the England and the Netherlands from the late 17 century through the 19th century to enliven an otherwise plain or uninteresting corner of a room. This girl holds a spaniel puppy and is one of a pair — its partner (F18n29) shows a boy holding a kitten.
Bibliography
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 140. (as a 19th century imitation of 17th century style)
Helaine W. Fendelman et al. Silent Companions: Dummy Board Figures of the 17th through 19th Centuries. Exh. cat. (Rye, New York: The Rye Historical Society, 1981), pp. 8, 14, ill. (as possibly English or Dutch, early 19th century)
Ellenor Alcorn et al. The Best of the Decorative Arts. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum IV. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1992), p. 16. (as later than museum no. F18n29; "probably made to complete the set")
Loa C. Winter. "Dummy Boards." The Decorator (1993/1994), p. 9, ill. (as possibly English or Dutch, early 19th century)
Gallery
Little Salon
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