Miniature hospital furniture made by convalescent soldier on Orkney Islands
c. 1915Set of three metal miniature pieces of hospital furniture made by a convalescent soldier on the Orkney Islands during the World War One period. It comprises an infirmary bed, locker and chair.
The bed has a tall, curved bedhead with four vertical bars between top and bottom horizontal bars. There are depictions of swivel wheels on the two supporting legs. The lower baseboard has two horizontal bars separated by a vertical bar which ends with a swivelling wheel. The supporting legs have solid feet rather than wheels. There is a flat piece of metal bent over the sides and end to represent the bedding. It is all painted black.
The locker is rectangular in shape and features a representation of a door with a knob in the bottom section and an open alcove on the upper left side. It stands on four cylindrical legs. The whole locker has been painted with light brown paint over which dark brown lines have been painted to represent wood grain.
The chair is in the style of a lathe back or Windsor chair, with four cylindrical pieces of metal between the upper back and solid seat. The outer two pieces of metal joining the seat to the top are thicker than the four central bars. There are four splayed legs, with the sides, back and front joined by horizontal bars. The bar at the front is higher than the other three sides to allow for the feet and lower legs. The chair is painted in the same light brown tones.
There is some loss of paint to all three pieces of furniture.
This set of miniature furniture was said to have been made by a convalescent soldier whilst recuperating in hospital on the Orkney Islands in Scotland during the World War One period. Although the Orkney Islands had no official military hospital at the time, the Balfour Hospital had operated since 1845 and several larger homes were converted into infirmaries to house convalescent soldiers during the war.
The identity of the maker is unknown, but it took great skill to produce the miniature furniture in such detail. It represented what he could see from his hospital bed - a bed, locker and chair.
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