When I planned the bedroom I had intended to make a walk-in closet in the room to display my wonderful collection of shoes, handbags and couture fashion (OK, that last one still only exists in my mind, but it will happen one day).
But, the best laid plans and all that... In short, I had to scrap the walk-in closet. I did come up with another plan to display at least some of the shoes and handbags. In the two spaces between the windows I made display cabinets with glass shelves. Each shelf is big enough to hold at least one handbag and a pair of shoes and with 5 shelves per cabinet, that's 10 handbags and 10 pairs of shoes. It's a start. ;-)
I haven't had a chance to take photos of the shoe cabinets in their full glory, but you can sneak a peek on the photos below.
The beautiful walnut burr and ivory vanity box with accessories was made by the wonderful Tony of Miniature Treasures. The walnut is 18th century and the ivory comes from recycled piano keys.
At the Arnhem show last October I bought another little treasure, this one from Ilona Kraassenberg of MiniMumLoon. The talented Ilona made a fabulous 3D miniature version of the famous painting 'The Goldfinch' by Carel Fabritius (1654). Ilona meant to have the 3D image in front of the frame and just put it inside the frame to make sure it was safe during the trip home, but I rather like the deep frame with the bird inside, so for now I'm keeping it like this.
Although I'm not sure of what Fabritius meant with his painting, I think the image of a chained bird could well be a symbol of a married woman at that time. So is it fitting to display this in the bedroom? Hmm...
The painter Fabritius died in a huge gunpowder explosion shortly after he painted 'The Goldfinch'. The explosion destroyed a large part of the centre of Delft and was so loud that it could be heard more than a hundred miles away. My ancestors of that period lived in Delft and I find it an intriguing thought that they experienced that piece of history first hand. I don't know whether they were hurt, or whether their house was destroyed or anything else, but just the thought of this thin thread connecting me to this somehow fascinates me.
For other explanations of the symbolism of The Goldfinch, please check out the website of museum the Mauritshuis in Delft. The story of The Goldfinch is rather wonderfully shown on the website of the Mauritshuis (click here, sound on and scroll down).
