Her innumerable toilet-boxes of tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl, her silver and gold scent-boxes, her boxes of filigree, her ivory, ebony and porcelain boxes and trays for her patches and cosmetics, her rich jewel cases of gold, silver, tortoiseshell or ivory, lined with velvet, her brushes and her shoe-horns, and her beautiful work-boxes supplied with thimbles, bodkins, knitting-needles, hooks, scissors, and everything that could be used for sewing and fancy needlework are displayed on her toilet-table and in her cabinets.

The table-cover or “carpet” was a most important decorative feature of the Dutch room. It was generally a handsome Oriental rug. This was thrown over the dining-table, the ordinary table in the hall or kitchen (see Plate XXVII and Plate XXXVI), in the bedroom (see Plate XXVI and Plate XXXVII), and used also for the toilet-table (see Plate XL). Often it was ornamented with handsome fringe (see Plate XXVI and Plate XXVII). When an impromptu meal was served, it was the custom to cover the handsome cloth with a white cloth, of which the Dutch housewife always had a large supply (see Plate XXXVI and Plate XLII). Four exceptionally handsome table “carpets” appear in Plate XL, Plate XXXIX, Plate XXVI and Plate XXXVII.

In nearly every Dutch interior one notes the presence of the foot-warmer or foot-stove—a little wooden box with a perforated top and sometimes perforated sides of wood or brass. In this, glowing embers were placed. One of these is seen in Plate XXVI and another in Plate XXXVII, while in Plate XXXVIII a cat is seen comfortably keeping itself warm. On Plate XXXIX the lady playing the double-necked lute has her foot on one of these universally used articles.

These foot-warmers that served as footstools, and were carried to church, are described in Roemer Visscher’s Sinnenpoppen (Animated Dolls). He calls them “mignon des dames,” and says: “Een stoef met vier daer in, is een bemint juweel by onse Hollandsche vrouwen, bysonder als de sneeuwvlocken vlieghen ende hagel ende rijp het lof van de boomen jaeght.”

(“A stove with fire in it is a beloved jewel of our Dutch wives, especially when the snowflakes are flying and the hail rattles.”)

The author of the Dutch Mercurius calls it “a small wooden piece of carpentry with four holes in the top.”

The “Looking-Glasse” that attracted Owen Feltham’s attention was a luxury. The spiegel-maker (mirror-maker) was only to be found in the large cities. He was not allowed to make the frames, nor to gild them; for this was the work of the Carpenters’ and Gilders’ Guild. The signs, however, read—“spyeghelwinckel,” “de nyeuwe spyeghelwinckel,” “spyeghel-magazijn,” “allerley spyeghels groot en clijn,” and “de Venetiaense spyeghelwinckel.” (The “mirror shop,” “the new mirror shop,” “mirror magazine,” “all kinds of mirrors, large and small,” and “Venetian mirrors.”)

The glass mirror was a novelty, for, until the seventeenth century, polished metal was used; but at this period a method of silvering glass with a mixture of quicksilver and pewter was invented in the celebrated factory of Murano. The Venetians monopolized the trade until the end of the century, when Abraham Thevart made mirrors (84 × 50 inches) in Paris. Both Venetian and French mirrors adorned the reception rooms of the rich stadhouders and mayors of Holland, and hung above the toilet-tables of ladies (see Plate XL). The archives of the Castle of Develstein mention: a “very large mirror from France,” “Venetian mirrors,” “a small coarse mirror in a black frame,” “a fine Venetian mirror in the Salon, with flowered crystal border”; “an Amsterdam mirror of medium size,” and “one French mirror, large and beautiful.”

Mirrors were not only valued for their thick glass and fine silvering, but on account of their choice frames. Inventories speak of scroll frames, open-work frames, frames with lions or griffins supporting a coat-of-arms, etc. Ladies also carried German and English mirrors suspended from their waists, for the purpose of arranging their coiffure, ruff, or patches.

The mirror, like other expensive luxuries, was often prohibited by the clergy of the Protestant Church; and many a rich burgher was reprimanded for spending so much money on mirrors, porcelain and furniture, and giving so little to the Church.

The most beautiful mirrors were probably found in The Hague, where the reception rooms and bedrooms were usually decorated in the “style Louis XIV.” Some of these were of Venetian glass with beautiful crystal borders and crystal lustres at the side. Frequently these were placed above the richly carved mantelpiece.

The bedsteads, often richly carved, were of oak, walnut or sacredaan, and were always hung with curtains. A deep valance often decorated the base. The centre of the canopy was ornamented with the family coat-of-arms, and each corner with a bouquet of many coloured plumes. Sometimes the bedstead was on a platform, and the rich hangings were supported by caryatides and the festoons of the canopy by carved cupids. The bedsteads were high, and a ladder or steps was required to climb into them. Little steps or foot benches stood in front of the bedstead and were sometimes used for seats or tables, somewhat like the old escarbeau of Mediaeval days.

One species of bedstead was known as the “coach,” or “rolling coach.” This was intended for children, and the name “coach” was extended to include the children’s sleeping-place. Mention is made in a treasurer’s account of Dordrecht (1586) of “three bedsteads with a coach underneath,” which shows that the coach is the trundle or truckle bed.

Tables and chairs were found in every room. About 1640, the “drop-leaf” or “hang-ear” tables came into use. They were usually made of solid walnut- or sacredaan wood.

The chairs had high curved, or leather, backs and low seats of leather, on top of which were placed loose cushions or pillows, which were often piled up so high on the seat that a child standing on tiptoe could not see over the pillow on the seat of the chair. Chairs were also covered with rich damask, serge and other woollen goods. In the old inventories mention is made of “Prussia leather table chairs,” ebony carved chairs, red cloth covered sacredaan wood chairs with pillows of different shapes, and of high-backed carved walnut table chairs.

Typical chairs are shown in Plates XXXIII and XXXIV from the Rijks Museum. In the first there is a caned armchair on the left, an upholstered armchair on the right, with turned legs and rails; and in the middle a chair in the Marot style, with a mirror-shaped back, cane panel, straight legs and crossed straining-rails. The example on the extreme left of Plate XXXIV is an armchair of carved oak, with scrolled arms and cane seat and back. It is similar to the one without arms from Cluny in Plate XLV. A cane chair without arms appears in the centre, and on the right an armchair with turned legs, carved top rail, and leather back and seat. The Flemish chair on Plate XLV is constantly seen in the rooms of the seventeenth century.

The chair on the left of Plate XXX in the Cluny Museum, called “Spanish of the Seventeenth Century,” is a curious transitional piece. The high back and seat are covered with Spanish leather put on with large-headed nails. The pattern of the leather represents peacocks, flowers and human figures. The ornamentation of the top rail consists of a leaf and scrolls ending in sharp spikes at the corners, very much in the early Regency style. On the rail below the seat is carved a heart-shaped ornament. The front legs are cabriole, connected with stretchers and ending in hoof feet. The back legs, also connected by stretchers, are straight.

Other furniture included spinets and harpsichords, Friesland clocks, table watches and pocket watches, which, when not in use, were placed in little cases, as were the mirrors the ladies wore at their waists. Sand- or hour-glasses were to be found especially in the kitchens, and the table-bell, which had now supplanted the whistle as a call for the servants.

The woods used for furniture were oak, walnut, cedar, olive, nutwood, ebony (black, green and yellow); kingwood, from Brazil, a hard wood with black veins on a chocolate ground; beef-wood, from New Holland, of a pale red used for borders; palissandre, or violet wood, from Guiana, for inlays on fine furniture; and, above all, sacredaan, or Java mahogany, a very hard wood, sweet smelling and of a bright yellow or pale orange colour. This was a favourite wood for chests, as the odour served to protect furs and woollen stuffs from the attacks of moths, etc.

The Dutch kitchen towards the end of the century was fully equipped with all kinds of brushes, brooms, pots, pans and every utensil that was necessary to effect the cleanliness and produce the good cheer so necessary to every prosperous burgher. In 1680, a kitchen of a man of moderate means in New Amsterdam contained the following:

Silverware was an important item in the possessions of the merchant class as well as the nobility. In 1682, we find the following items in the inventory of a prosperous butcher:

No view of a Dutch interior of the seventeenth century would be complete if it neglected to take into consideration the family pets. These are very much in evidence in the pictures, by Dutch masters. These consist of monkeys, parrots, peacocks, pheasants, cats and dogs.

The monkey is quite a privileged character. Sometimes he is perched on the top of a spinet and sometimes on a kas or a chimney-piece.

The masters of vessels that sailed the Eastern Seas, both English and Dutch, were commissioned by nobles and potentates to bring home rare animals. In 1609, for instance, the East India Company issued letters for reserving “all strange fowls and beasts to be found there,” for the Council. In 1623, we find a note that to the governor of the Company a “Caccatoa” was sent from Batavia. The cockatoo is a familiar resident in Dutch homes. He and other kinds of parrots, domiciled in wicker and wire cages, are very much in evidence in the genre pictures of the age. The golden and silver pheasants were also privileged members of the household, and were allowed the freedom of the hall. Sometimes we see them perched on cornices, and sometimes strutting on the tiled floor. The monkey, which played so important a part in the “singerie” decoration of the late Louis Quatorze, Régence and Louis Quinze periods, was imported in considerable numbers. A gossipy journal—Le Courrier du temps, conducted by Fouquet de Croissy who undertook to tell the secret happenings in the court of every prince in Europe—records the following item of news from Amsterdam, under date of September 1, 1649:

“This week several ships have arrived here from the Indies. Among the other riches with which the good agent was charged, he has brought a dozen of the rarest and most beautiful monkeys that have ever been seen in these parts. Cardinal Mazarin has sent for them to put them in his wardrobe and anti-chambers to divert those who pay court to him and to judge the affection they have for his service by the civility and good treatment of the animals, the favourites of his Eminence, receive from them.”