Girl dummy board

Dummy boards are life-like depictions on flat wooden boards painted in the trompe l’oeil style to give the impression of three-dimensional figures. [1] They likely originated in the Netherlands during the seventeenth century when illusion in art was fashionable and remained popular there and in England into the eighteenth century. [2] As whimsical household decorations, dummy boards amused guests and enlivened dark corners and hallways. [3] The most common subjects were servants, soldiers, children, and animals. [4] Dummy boards of children were often made in pairs, as with this example in which a boy and a girl are shown in three-quarter view with their bodies turned inwards. [5] Most figures stand on a block or bracket behind the feet and often have a hook at the back for positioning. [6] At night, a strategically placed light source could cast realistic shadows from the figures and even give the impression that someone was in the house. [7]

[1] Helaine W. Fendelman. Silent Companions: Dummy Board Figures of the 17th through 19th Centuries. Exh. Cat., Rye Historical Society, 1981, p. 5.

[2] Clive Edwards. "Dummy Board Figures as Images of Amusement and Deception in Interiors, 1660–1800," in Studies in the Decorative Arts 10, no. 1 (2002–2003): p. 74.

[3] Edwards, "Dummy Board Figures as Images of Amusement and Deception in Interiors, 1660–1800," p. 82.

[4] Clare Graham. Dummy Boards and Chimney Boards. Buckinghamshire, UK: Shire Publications Ltd., 1988, p. 13–24.

[5] Fendelman, Silent Companions, p. 6.

[6] Graham, Dummy Boards and Chimney Boards, p. 8.

[7] "Dummy Boards: Silent companions painted in a trompe l’oeil or fool-the-eye manner invite speculation about their use," in Colonial Homes, July–August 1981, p. 56.