E-4: English Drawing Room of the Late Jacobean Period, 1680-1702

Narcissa Niblack Thorne, creator of the Thorne Rooms, combined a deep knowledge of design history with a vivid imaginative sensibility. In the 1930s, she assembled a team of skilled artisans in Chicago to construct a series of intricately detailed interiors at the scale of one inch to one foot (1:12).

Conceived as a visual history of interior design, the rooms are at once scholarly and inventive. Meticulously researched and carefully composed, they balance historical accuracy with artistic interpretation. Each atmospheric interior feels like a stage set awaiting its occupants—two parts fantasy, one part history, and entirely absorbing.

Entry from Fannia Weingartner, Miniature Rooms: The Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2nd ed. (The Art Institute of Chicago, 2004):

4: English Drawing Room of the Late Jacobean Period, 1680–1702
In 1685 William Winde designed Belton House for the Bronlow family of Lincolnshire. A very fine residence, it was conceived in the manner of Sir Christopher Wren, architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, and the single most influential figure in English architecture in the decades after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Mrs. Thorne was particularly drawn to the library, with its “elaborate carving over the mantel and between the panels . . . attributed to Grinling Gibbons—a woodcarver of great ability.” She also admired the ceilings throughout the house, with their dramatic high-relief moldings of fruits and flowers. These influences are evident in this interior.
By the time that Belton House was completed in 1689, the Glorious Revolution had brought to the throne James II’s Protestant daughter, Mary, and her Dutch husband, Prince William of Orange. With them came a wave of new fashions in household appointments. The cabinet against the left wall, copied from a piece featuring oyster, ivory, and wood inlays, exhibits the complex marquetry patterns that were inspired by French and Dutch examples. Tall case clocks like the one shown here became popular at this time. The stool, tall-back chairs, cabinet, and table by the fireplace date from the same period. The pair of black side tables are “japanned” to imitate Far Eastern lacquer. Mrs. Thorne obtained the secretary against the right wall, the cabinet, and the clock from the London shop of Arthur Punt.
An excellent needlewoman, Queen Mary created a vogue for needlepoint-covered chairs and settees like the ones in this room. Mrs. Thorne found the rug in an antique shop in Paris. Soiled beyond recognition, it turned out to be a miniature of a Near Eastern carpet when cleaned. During the seventeenth century, such rugs tended to be used as table rather than floor coverings.
Dutch Delftware (tin-glazed earthenware) became highly popular in the mid-seventeenth century. The blue-and-white coloration had been inspired by Chinese blue-and-white porcelain carried to the Netherlands by the Dutch East India Company beginning in the early 1600s. The The English East India Company imported Asian ware into England during the seventeenth century. Mrs. Thorne included both reproductions of Dutch Delft (on the mantel and secretary) and Asian jade and porcelains (on the cabinet and lacquer tables). The portrait over the mantel is a replica of Anthony van Dyck’s 1635 portrait of Charles I in Hunting Dress, now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
This room measures 16 3/4 x 26 1/2 x 21 5/8 inches.