DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68274#0271
Seventeenth Century (Dutch)
(On MY GARDEN OF SILK
• How much Cassius may pride himself and boast of all his fruit
Grown outside Rome and on the Tiber's border;
How much Lucullus may praise his flowers, plants and twigs,
His lawns, his tree-garden, his seeds and a fine orchard-
All these can be scattered by the wind, a shower, or a gust ;
So that the flower fades and the ripe fruit perishes,
But my silken garden will remain for ever.
My fruit satisfies the greedy eye; but not the mouth ;
No spider, worm, nor caterpillar can hurt my trees ;
My flowers are as green in winter as in summer,
My cherries always red, my apples and my pears
Always ripe and sound ; . they feed the eyes for ever.)
The dolls' houses of the rich were always made of
costly woods, and were frequently inlaid with ivory and
tortoiseshell. At the exhibition of Amsterdam in 1858,
among a number of these curiosities, was a notable one
veneered with tortoiseshell and with painted glass doors—a
present from the King of Denmark to Maarten Harpertz
Tromp. Another was a typical Dutch house of walnut-
root wood, furnished with silver furniture and wax dolls ;
there were also two of Italian make with tortoiseshell,
ebony and brass ornaments, the doors of which were
painted with Italian sea-towns ; and one of ebony, the
door-panels of which were painted by Peter Breughel.
In the Rijks Museum are several models in miniature
of old Amsterdam houses. The finest one is of tortoise-
shell ornamented with white metal inlay. According to
tradition, Christoffel Brandt, Peter the Great's agent in
Amsterdam, had this house made by order of the Czar,
and it is said to have cost 20,000 guilders (£2,500), and
to have required five years to produce. Dating from the
latter part of the seventeenth or first part of the eight-
eenth century, it contains all the furniture that was to
be found at that date in an aristocratic dwelling on the
Heerengracht or Keizersgracht. Every object in it was
175
(On MY GARDEN OF SILK
• How much Cassius may pride himself and boast of all his fruit
Grown outside Rome and on the Tiber's border;
How much Lucullus may praise his flowers, plants and twigs,
His lawns, his tree-garden, his seeds and a fine orchard-
All these can be scattered by the wind, a shower, or a gust ;
So that the flower fades and the ripe fruit perishes,
But my silken garden will remain for ever.
My fruit satisfies the greedy eye; but not the mouth ;
No spider, worm, nor caterpillar can hurt my trees ;
My flowers are as green in winter as in summer,
My cherries always red, my apples and my pears
Always ripe and sound ; . they feed the eyes for ever.)
The dolls' houses of the rich were always made of
costly woods, and were frequently inlaid with ivory and
tortoiseshell. At the exhibition of Amsterdam in 1858,
among a number of these curiosities, was a notable one
veneered with tortoiseshell and with painted glass doors—a
present from the King of Denmark to Maarten Harpertz
Tromp. Another was a typical Dutch house of walnut-
root wood, furnished with silver furniture and wax dolls ;
there were also two of Italian make with tortoiseshell,
ebony and brass ornaments, the doors of which were
painted with Italian sea-towns ; and one of ebony, the
door-panels of which were painted by Peter Breughel.
In the Rijks Museum are several models in miniature
of old Amsterdam houses. The finest one is of tortoise-
shell ornamented with white metal inlay. According to
tradition, Christoffel Brandt, Peter the Great's agent in
Amsterdam, had this house made by order of the Czar,
and it is said to have cost 20,000 guilders (£2,500), and
to have required five years to produce. Dating from the
latter part of the seventeenth or first part of the eight-
eenth century, it contains all the furniture that was to
be found at that date in an aristocratic dwelling on the
Heerengracht or Keizersgracht. Every object in it was
175