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nearly every affluent parlor in the 19th century contained examples of
“Oriental” art. Only the wealthy could afford genuine porcelain or
celadon pieces, but innovations in pottery-making technology in Europe
created cheaper alternatives that imitated the look of Asian ceramics.
The hobby of painting these ceramics to look like the examples
found in museums quickly caught on. Many books on pottery making,
focusing on painting, were published during this china painting craze,
roughly between about 1880 and 1920. Magazines such as Keramic
Studio: A Monthly Magazine for the Potter and Decorator guided ladies
in the craft by featuring new patterns in each issue, and publishing ads
for everything from china to decorate to pencils and brushes, portable
kilns, paints, and ceramic gold. The most popular designs included
typical blue and white patterns and floral motifs. Hosting ceramic
painting parties became a fashionable pastime and enabled genteel Victorian pyrography hankie box
women to show off their painterly skills to their guests.
impressions of nature that could be preserved indefinitely.
Shadowboxes Queen Victoria loved wax flowers, and over ten thousand wax roses
Many of the pastimes were produced on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Albert.
enjoyed by Victorians are easy Around the same time, Kew Gardens began displaying wax models of
enough for us to relate to, or their rarest specimens for the delight of visitors. Wax was relatively
even recreate. But there was cheap to purchase, and people began imitating these models in the
also an element of the weird comfort of their own home; moreover, it was fashionable to display
and macabre to parlor crafts models of elaborate bouquets under glass domes – freezing the beauty
that are particularly fun for of nature in time. Mintorn & Son began producing a kit to make these
collectors and hobbyists. wax models in the 1840s, and a well-to-do woman could choose a
One example is shadowboxes design to suit her.
which commemorated special Parlor crafts were not strictly the province of women, but many view
events, stored keepsakes, it as a gendered occupation due to its ties to the domestic sphere and
honored the departed, and the applied arts – basketry, weaving, decorating. In the Victorian era,
featured fantastical spectacles the home was considered a feminine domain: private, refined, and
of the imagination. These morally instructive. What took place in the parlor, therefore, became
tableaus were often made of inherently associated with womanhood and female accomplishment.
everyday items, ephemera, or
souvenirs arranged artistically Get Paid to Craft
and mounted in a recessed One of the most beloved
space surrounded by a frame. books on parlor crafts was
Like a three-dimensional Victorian La Mode Illustree Fancy Work for Pleasure and
scrapbook (another popular embelleshed 3-D shadow box Profit, written by Addie E.
hobby), shadowboxes are like a heron in 1905. The book
window to the past, showing us what people over a hundred and fifty compiled nearly every con-
years ago cared about, found funny, or believed worth preserving and ceivable type of needlework
remembering. art for its readers. While the
book was aimed for the
Pyrography hobbyists, industrious
Another unique craft was pyrography or the art of burning designs amateurs might also think
into wood. Heating up a pointed metal tool enabled the user to incise to sell their creations to
or brand wooden boxes or tableware. Sometimes you can find examples supplement their income –
with leather, velvet, or glass. Pyrography became especially trendy this was particularly
around the turn of the twentieth century, when Art Nouveau inspired relevant for unmarried
people to adorn boxes with sinuous lines and natural motifs. You don’t women who were skilled
see as much pyrography on the market, but they’re lovely things to pick with a needle. Yet the true
up and generally don’t cost message of this book was
more than $100. the power of craft to
improve the home. Victorian beadwork tea pot cover and pad.
Wax Impressions “No household, however photo: Judy Kent
The Victorians also humble, need be without the
had an odd relationship refining influence of dainty environment.” Beauty, it was believed,
with nature. Many of the reflected morality. Therefore, the ability of a woman to beautify her
parlor crafts produced in parlor was not only an accomplishment of skill but of virtue. As such,
the nineteenth century much of the craftwork and production we typically associate with the par-
depicted flora and fauna, lor has been overlooked by design historians. Of course, collectors and
and indeed this era saw a antiquarians who collect parlor crafts and other homespun items know
flourishing of the natural that women produced works of heightened artistry and sophistication.
sciences and botanical Today, Victorian parlor crafts are a fixture of the second-hand
collecting; however, most antique market. Many people inherit them from a grandparent or forget
people sought to domesti- that they may have a piece or two in their attics. In fact, Antiques
cate nature and mold it to Roadshow’s list of commonly-seen items includes several of the examples
their own purposes. noted in this article.
Certainly, the wax-model But the variety of parlor crafts should not be uniformly dismissed.
trend demonstrates the They’re often wonderful pieces demonstrating highly skilled artisan-
Queen Victoria’s daughter Beatrice desire men and women ship. Like most artifacts from the Victorian age, there’s often more
on her wedding day adorned with wax flowers. had to create artificial than meets the eye.

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