Victorian Figural Dummy Board

19th century, painted wood depicting young girl in Elizabethan period attire holding an apple, unmarked.

40 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 10 in.

From the New Hampshire Collection of Tatyana Archambault

As described by the Victoria Albert Museum, "dummy boards" are life-size, flat, wooden figures painted and shaped in outline to resemble figures of servants, soldiers, children, and animals. The taste for using illusionistic painted figures as a form of house decoration probably originated in the trompe l’oeil, or life-like interior scenes painted by Dutch artists in the early 17th century. Dummy boards continued to be produced into the 19th century. They were placed in corners and on stairways to surprise visitors, or in front of empty fireplaces in the summer. Most were made by professional sign-painters, who also produced the hanging street signs prevalent until the late 18th century.

Good estate condition; a few minor chips to wood at top of head; some small areas of paint restoration.