Inside Petronella Oortman's Tiny House

HOUSE TOUR | ROOMS & GARDENS | WORLD OF CABANA

A house tour, but one-twelfth the size and twelve times more opulent. Behind cabinet doors, more lavish than most people's homes, lies a vision of domestic perfection in miniature, where tortoiseshell gleams, teacups are dusted, and the linen is tidily stacked in the attic. Emma Becque peeks behind the tiny curtains of the Rijksmuseum’s most extravagant interiors.

BY EMMA BECQUE | ROOMS & GARDENS | 25 APRIL 2025

Dolls’ house of Petronella Oortman, anoniem, c.1686 - c.1710 © The Rijksmuseum.

Among the more unexpected treasures in the Rijksmuseum's collection are two 17th-century dolls' houses, created not inside toy chests but in meticulously crafted cabinets that rival full-sized Dutch canal houses in ambition and expense. These are not the playthings of idle children, but complex domestic visions in miniature, curated with the precision and pride of a period interior.

Assembled by women of considerable means and taste, the houses are held today under the joint stewardship of Alexander Dencher, curator of furniture, and Sara van Dijk, curator of textiles at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The pair are preparing a scholarly volume on the subject and an exhibition, At Home in the 17th Century, which will offer a glimpse into the domestic lives of Dutch civilians three centuries ago. 

Pictured is the original doll's house commissioned by Petronella before her marriage to the wealthy Dutch merchant Johannes Brandt © The Rijksmuseum.

The earlier of the two dolls' houses on permanent display belonged to Petronella, with the earlier model being assembled before her marriage in 1676. Her treasured house still contains its original wax dolls. Each caught mid-scene in a household of carefully orchestrated activity. "We want visitors to look a little closer inside this space."

Looking closely, scenes tell a story of domestic life where guests are received in the salon while servants work industriously in the kitchen, laundry and attic, where the winter's peat is stored. Men dine, women visit, and a nurse watches over an infant in an opulent lying-in room, a stage set for domestic life as it might have been.

Doll’s House of Petronella Oortman, Jacob Appel (I), c. 1710 © The Rijksmuseum.

Such scenes were recreated by the Rijksmuseum using a detailed painting. "Though the majority of the original dolls are lost, their presence within Petronella Oortmans' dolls' house is immortalised in a contemporary painting". Petronella’s dolls' house was so unique that it was immortalised in a painted portrait by Jacob Appel.

A later house, commissioned by the married Petronella Oortmans, was meticulously assembled over the course of 25 years, beginning around 1686. "Its cabinet, likely the most extravagant ever crafted for such a purpose, is entirely veneered in tortoiseshell marquetry with pewter inlay. The cost of the entire dolls' house was equivalent to that of a full-sized canal house on the Herengracht," says Dencher.

Only one doll remains: a swaddled infant, dressed in a delicate christening gown of pink and blue silk, trimmed with lace and ribbons © The Rijksmuseum. 

The decorative space offers a rare window into 17th-century European domestic life. Among its most telling spaces is the ruby-red lying-in room, where new and expectant mothers may remain confined to bed for up to six weeks after childbirth. These were social spaces as much as private ones, frequented by visitors and carefully arranged for display.

A meticulously arranged scene in the kitchen, where Petronella commissioned Chinese porcelain through the Dutch East India Company © The Rijksmuseum.

The kitchen exudes charm, featuring shelves lined with fine Chinese and Japanese porcelain, as well as delicate lacquered screens, which are the only remaining examples of such craftsmanship. A child's chair and petite stove with a ceramic vessel sit beside a table arranged with sewing tools, capturing the rhythms of daily life in miniature.

A marvel of its age, the house was shown by appointment. Its owner delights in visitors' reactions to its many refinements, such as running water in the kitchen, a library lined with 83 leather-bound volumes, and cabinets that open to reveal miniature garments, monogrammed linens, wicker-woven baskets and china, all meticulously arranged. 

The tapestry room is a historic emblem of 17th-century craftsmanship and decorative trends of the time © The Rijksmuseum.

Artisans were commissioned to bring the dolls' house to life, from woodcarvers and basket weavers to silversmiths and glassblowers. Individual pieces were crafted with such precision and realism that they blurred the line between model and reality, an exacting craftsmanship that secured its fame. 

"An exquisite example of decoration and dedication is found in the tapestry room, which showcases the significance of late 17th-century upholstery, featuring point de hongrie wall hangings," says Dencher. At its center stands a beautiful Chinese lacquerware cabinet housing a collection of shells, where cabinets of curiosities reflected wealth and travels. 

The main reception room is hand-painted with a panoramic landscape, a 17th-century technique intended to bring the outdoors in, sometimes described at the time as an Eternal Spring. Chairs are arranged around the perimeter, ready to be moved into place for games or gatherings. Ceramic spittoons stand beside a central backgammon table, while a lacquered tea table is positioned discreetly in one corner.

"Upstairs, the laundry room offers insight into historical household routines. Various items used for laundry preparation are present, reflecting the practice of washing linens outside the home and then mangling and pressing them upon return", says Dencher.

Two copper irons, each fitted with an iron sole and a simple wooden handle, rest on the ironing table. Every object was crafted to scale, using the same materials as its life-sized originals © The Rijksmuseum.

Petronella considered every intricate detail, including miniature paintings by Dutch genre painter Cornelis Dusart, which dress the nursery walls, pictured below. Here, he captured two bustling market moments in miniature: The Quack and The Tradeswoman, rich in character and detail and scaled to suit the room's tiny inhabitants.

The Petronella Oortman's dolls' houses are on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, part of the museum's permanent collection in The Gallery of Honour.

A silken canopy bed trimmed with lace in the opulent nursery © The Rijksmuseum.