{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O368678"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O368678/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017JV3685/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017JV3685/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017JV3685","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JV3606","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JV3625","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O368678","accessionNumber":"W.27-1937","objectType":"Model","titles":[{"title":"Model of a mid-Georgian library","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"This description has been trasncribed from the department register of 1937: Model of a mid-Georgian library (scale 1:12). Panelled walls surmounted by a cornice with carved enrichment. Moulded plaster ceiling with bands of foliage design. On the left a fireplace surmounted by a carved overmantel frame containing a reproduction of Gainsborough's \"Mr. Robinson as Perdita\". On the right a carved doorway leading into another smaller room. At the back two windows behind which is a painted representation of Regent Street before its rebuilding by Nash. ","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Miniatures","id":"THES269968"},{"text":"Architectural models","id":"THES274433"},{"text":"Interiors","id":"THES48933"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2017JV3685","2017JV3606","2017JV3625"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES343483"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Model","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1936","earliest":"1931-01-01","latest":"1940-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Mrs. James Ward Thorne","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The model library was given to the Museum by Mrs James Ward Thorne, an American enthusiast for miniature interiors, in conjunction with Arthur Punt, antique dealers, who made the model in their workshops.  A collection of 68 rooms commissioned by Mrs Ward Thorne is in the Art Institute of Chicago. Nominal File: Thorne, Mrs James Ward, records the acquisition of the library, with correspondence 1935 to 1937. The model is a replica of one in the collection of Mrs Ward Thorne, shown at the Chicago Historical Society's Museum.  Photographs of the rooms were shown to Queen Mary at some time before 1935. When asked which room she like best, she chose the library, and a replica was completed in 1937.  The V&A acquisition file contains, photographs of the furnished room, a Palladian interior furnished with a Persian carpets, fitted bookshelves, a brass chandelier, and various pieces of different mid-Georgian furniture, including a japanned bureau cabinet and a Chinese lacquer screen.  All the furniture was scrupulously made to the scale of 1 inch to 1 foot.\r\n\r\nIn 1941 the model was damaged by bombing. The damage was described as 'extremely slight' but by the 1970s, it was deemed that restoration was not possible.  The furnishings were apparently destroyed but the model has survived.\n\nMrs Ward Thorne (1882-1966), born Narcissa Niblack, made a collection of miniatures.  'During the Twenties a childish enjoyment of dolls' houses developed, by serious study, into a daunting ambition: the creation of a series of miniature rooms all aimed to display the most important and influential styles in European and American interior decoration.... Mrs Thorne was encouraged to start an even grander project, an inch to the foot scale set of thirty rooms, with specially commissioned furniture, to present a chronological 'History of European Design'. It was, however, to be a purely personal selection and her reasons for choosing these rooms reflect her own preferences'. (The Miniature House, by Faith Eaton and Nick Nicholson, 1990, p. 112).","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Model of a mid-Georgian library, now missing its original furniture, scale 1:12.  English, ca. 1936.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"The Miniature House, Faith Eaton and Nick Nicholson, (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1990), pp.111 et seq. "},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Miniature Rooms: The Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, by James Ward Thorne, Kathleen Culbert-Aguilar, Michael Abramson, 2nd Ed.  (Hudson Hills Press, 2004)"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["W.27-1937"],"accessionNumberNum":"27","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1937,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-19","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}