Quartermaine Hall

Artisan: JBM
Date: Unknown
Inscriptions: label with the company name ‘JBM’ (on the base)
Dimensions: 230 x 132 x 72 mm. / 8 ¾ x 5 ¼ x 2 ⅝ inches (height x width x depth)
Inventory number: 2021.020
Intended Room: Music Room
Category: Musical Instruments

Provenance: Bought from Melody Jane Dolls’ House in 2021

This was a very early buy, as we knew from the beginning that we wanted there to be a Music Room at Quartermaine Hall. As I said in my entry for the Bespaq Dutch Baby House, I might not have bought this organ now, as with more experience it looks a little heavy and over-varnished – as you would expect from something which is, fundamentally, a mass-produced miniature.

That doesn’t take away from the fact that this is a magnificent piece of furniture – part musical instrument and part sideboard or whatnot. It has all sorts of little galleried nooks and crannies to put pieces of porcelain, as well as a rest for music, a mirror in the centre, and a candlestick holder on each side of the keyboard (very Phantom of the Opera). As you can see below, it looks very impressive when dressed up with various ornaments and accessories. I would just prefer it if there were a way to make it look a little more aged and a little less shiny…

Below, you can see what the organ looks like when dressed up a little, featuring various other objects from the collection, including Robert Olszewski’s Vase of Flowers, one of Phil Grenyer’s beautiful ribbed wine glasses, Don Henry’s gold pocket watch, Sally Meekins’s peacock vases and porcelain cats, a lovely fan whose creator I have shamefully forgotten, a couple of pieces of Victorian ephemera, and Victoria Fasken’s Quimper candlesticks…