Doll stove
A doll's stove is a scaled-down replica of a stove that children use as a toy . Such stoves appeared in the mid-19th century and are still in many children's rooms today. Doll stoves were most widespread between 1870 and 1940. Until the 1960s, functional stoves that could actually be used for cooking were common, but today's children mostly play with replicas made of wood or plastic, on which something is only "in play" can be prepared. However, functional new miniature cookers for children are still occasionally available today.
history
Doll kitchen and stove in the 19th century
From the doll's kitchen to the doll's stove
“ Children love tiny things, especially when they resemble the objects in their parents' household. Children like moving things, like drawers that can be opened and closed, doors that can be opened and closed, and they like to play with devices that work. Children love fire and water, and they mess and mess and - like to eat. "
A doll stove meets all of these children's preferences. Miniature stoves as an exact replica of large fire stoves appeared in the second half of the 19th century. For more affluent classes, in which the children were not involved in the housework from an early age, the doll stoves were ideal toys and educational tools. Previously there had been doll kitchens in the dolls' houses of the 17th and 18th centuries, but they were mostly decorative objects intended for adults rather than children's toys. At the end of the 18th century, separate doll kitchens were developed for children, although stoves and other devices were still painted or wooden dummies. This went hand in hand with a downsizing of families due to social and economic upheavals, as well as a new perception of the child as an individual and childhood as a separate phase of life.
From around 1850, large doll kitchens with a width of up to 120 cm were also available, which were equipped with alcohol stoves and other, partly functional, kitchen appliances such as an ice machine, refrigerator, mixer, bread cutter, etc. In addition to the doll kitchens, which suggested a separate room with three wooden walls, but were not suitable for “real” cooking due to the limited space, larger stoves, dishes and utensils were developed at the same time. These free-standing metal stoves were fired with alcohol and, depending on their size, were equipped with several hotplates, an oven and a water boat for warm water. Henriette Davidis' cookbook for dolls makes an explicit distinction between "dishes that are made on the dolls stove" and "dishes to be prepared without a stove", i.e. cold dishes, and another section dedicated to "flower cooking or dishes for the dolls". Even though the “flower kitchen” is sufficient for the dolls , real dishes are prepared on a doll's stove - and probably eaten by the children themselves.
Cooking machines, fired with alcohol, gas and Esbit
These iron doll stoves technically corresponded to the so-called cooking machine developed by JP Bérard and Benjamin Thompson . To make better use of the heat, the pots were hung directly in the open fire. A ledge in the side wall of the pots or a retaining ring prevented the pots from falling into the stove. The tin stoves were equipped with two to six cooking holes, an oven and several small doors behind which the fireplace was hidden. Towards the end of the 19th century, the stoves were increasingly decorated with embossed sheet metal on the side walls, bolts and feet made of sheet brass and enamel. These stoves continued to be offered after 1900, until smooth white stoves with straight, unadorned legs prevailed around 1920. Strangely enough, doll stoves that could be connected to city gas lines were offered as early as 1902 , but could not prevail over models fueled with alcohol or Esbit . From 1909 Märklin also offered electric doll stoves. These were considered to be particularly safe, but were considerably more expensive and could only assert themselves much later against the many inherited fireplaces.
Raising girls at the doll's stove
The playful imitation of the activities of the mother or the cook should encourage the education of little girls to be housewives . Doll cookbooks , such as the doll cook Anna by Henriette Davidis, published in 1855, praised the art of cooking as the most important women's art, which was to be learned through play. Girls should be prepared in a playful way for their later domestic sphere of activity. In the course of the 19th century, working in the house was increasingly understood as a profession that required training or special education. Doll cookbooks came onto the market for the first time around the same time as the doll stoves and, together with the widespread women's advice and housekeeping books of that time, formed the basis for a domestic girls' education program. This integration can be seen, for example, in the introduction to the house daughter's cooking school for play and life , published in 1896. The author Anna Jäger admonishes the child:
" What is a happy game for you now will also be a dear activity for you later, and if it becomes your duty in distant days, it will be dear to you and you will playfully fulfill what you have already practiced in the game. Just cook delicious food for your dolls, it will soon be experienced and you can please your dear dad with his favorite dishes that you personally have prepared excellently. "
Valuable and dangerous toys at the same time
Nevertheless, doll kitchens and doll stoves were mostly only in use for a short time, they were prepared for Christmas and placed under the Christmas tree with ingredients. Most of the time, the children of the family were able to play with the kitchen or stove until the Christmas tree was cleared on Marian Candlemas (February 2nd), then the toys were packed and put away until the next Christmas. In addition, cooking with alcohol was considered extremely dangerous back then and explosions and injuries have been reported.
The first generation of dolls 'flocks are now sought-after and valued collectors' items that, often lovingly restored, are traded as antiques at high prices . Like other toys for children, they are a source of socio-cultural research. These toys were originally reserved for children of the middle-class or even aristocratic class. Working-class children, on the other hand, often had to take part in the production of toys themselves; such elaborate toys were unaffordable for their families. Doll kitchens clearly reflected the high social status of their owners in their furnishings .
Technical advancement in the 20th century
electric doll stove, Germany around 1960
electric doll stove "Brutzel", GDR around 1960
electric doll stove, GDR around 1960
Electric doll stove with ceramic hob, around 1990
Kitchen appliances for children also reflected the technical development of the “adult” kitchens . After the introduction of the alarm clock around 1900, for example, small alarm pots and jars for children were produced. Overall, the equipment in the children's kitchens may have been a bit more conservative, especially because the dolls' stoves, which were expensive to buy, were mostly used by several generations of children.
When electric stoves replaced fire stoves in many households after the Second World War, electric doll stoves also came on the market. Like their predecessors, they are suitable for cooking and baking with real food in matching miniature pots, pans and baking tins. There are models with two or four hotplates, with or without an oven, mostly made of enamelled or lacquered metal, with iron hotplates.
The Easy-Bake oven , which was introduced by the Kenner company in 1963 and, after various changes in design and functionality, is now manufactured by Hasbro , has a unique position on the US market . The device uses a standard light bulb of approx. 100 watts, a timer and separate entrances for loading and unloading are intended to protect against burns. Up to two pieces of biscuit the size of a biscuit can be prepared in the Easy-Bake, the baking mixes offered for this are partly based on well-known branded products or are merchandising items from cartoon series from the children's range. In addition, recipe competitions are held on a national level. Although there is a model with a hot plate for melting glazes, the Easy-Bake is of course not a full-fledged stove, just an oven. The current design also makes it appear as a microwave device.
Working doll stoves with ceramic hob also came on the market around 1990.
Modern doll stoves made of wood and plastic
Doll stove made of wood and plastic, Sweden around 2000
Doll hearth, Sweden around 2000, top view
However, in the course of the 20th century , these functional doll stoves went out of fashion. The parents probably had increasing concerns about letting their children handle hot stovetops and food on their own. Changed living and thus also cooking habits of the parents may also have played a role that "real" cooking is more of an exception for children today; parents may now enable their children to carry out cooking experiments in the "real" kitchen. The children's cookbooks that have been emerging since the 1950s and whose quantities of ingredients are tailored to normal “large” pots and stoves suggest this. Toys that do not require parental supervision are also the norm today. The original idea of introducing girls to household chores early with doll kitchens and preparing them for a later life role is now outdated.
Today, toy stoves made of wood or plastic with suggested hotplates, oven flaps and knobs are common. You can only cook on these stoves "in play". They are completely harmless, but also lack the attraction of being able to cook a “real” meal.
Manufacturer
The first functional doll stoves were custom-made by craftsmen. Around 1800, the first children's stoves were made from rolled sheet metal in Germany. The first series production of such stoves was made around 1820. From surviving catalogs and illustrations, for example on the title page of Julie Bimbach's puppet cookbook, it can be seen that in the middle of the 19th century various companies were already producing a large number of different models. From around 1870 onwards, industrial progress in sheet metal processing made it possible to punch sheet metal by machine, press it into shapes and deep-draw it. This allowed the tin stoves to be richly decorated and designed in completely different ways. As early as 1895, the Bing company offered 5 pages exclusively with tin stoves for children in its toy catalog. There were also about five other manufacturers, including Märklin and Kindler & Briel (now Kibri). Since the manufacturers did not mark their products, it is only possible to assign them to a specific manufacturer based on the ornaments and the design of the herd. Numerous catalogs have been received from the Märklin company in particular, from which the wealth of shapes at the time can be read. The models were extremely durable. Many models were produced unchanged for 30 or more years. Most of the models were also produced in graduated sizes that could be nested for transport to the dealer.
literature
- Gisela Framke and Gisela Marenk (eds.): Profession of the virgin. Henriette Davidis and the common understanding of women in the 19th century. Oberhausen: Graphium Press, 1988, ISBN 3-9800259-9-3 .
- Wolfram Metzger (ed.): Lirum, Larum, Löffelstiel. The doll's kitchen through the ages. Exhibition in the Badisches Landesmuseum in Schloss Bruchsal, December 18, 1994 - May 7, 1995, Karlsruhe, Info Verlagsgesellschaft, 1994.
- Renate Müller-Krumbach: Small perfect world. A cultural history of the dollhouse. Leipzig, Edition Leipzig, 1992.
- Sabine Reinelt: Doll kitchen and stove in three centuries. Weingarten, 2002.
- Eva Stille: Doll kitchens 1800-1980. A book for collectors and lovers of old things. Nuremberg, Hans Carl Verlag, 1985.
- Leonie von Wilckens: The doll's house. From the reflection of the bourgeois household to toys for children. Munich, Georg DW Callwey, 1978.
