That Infernal Contraption! - a photo on Flickriver

            Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance.  To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

Whilst her mistress is enjoying a weekend in Worcestershire, Edith, Lettice’s maid is using her time to give the flat a thorough dusting and airing.  As she dusts the dining room, a noise she detests bursts into her quiet, methodical cleaning.

BBBBRRRINGGG!

The telephone in the drawing room starts ringing.

Edith looks through the double doors into the adjoining drawing room.  “That infernal contraption!”  she mutters to herself.

BBBBRRRINGGG!

She walks in and up to the black japanned occasional table upon which the silver and Bakelite telephone continues to trill loudly.

BBBBRRRINGGG!

“I should pull your chord out next time I’m Hoovering.  Let’s hear you ring then!”

BBBBRRRINGGG!

Edith hates answering the telephone.  It’s one of the few jobs in her position as Lettice’s maid that she wishes she didn’t have to do.  Whenever she has to answer it, which is quite often considering how frequently her mistress is out and about, there is usually some uppity caller at the other end of the phone, whose toffee-nosed accent only seems to sharpen when they realise they are speaking to ‘the hired help’ as they abruptly demand Lettice’s whereabouts.

BBBBRRRINGGG!

“Come on now Edith!”  she tells herself, smoothing her suddenly clammy hands down the apron covering her print morning dress.  “It’s only a machine, and the person at the other end can’t hurt you, even if they are angry that you aren’t her.” 

“Mayfair 432, the Honourable Miss Lettice Chetwynd’s residence.” she answers with a slight quiver to her voice.  Her whole body clenches and she closes her eyes as she waits for the barrage of anger from some duchess or other titled lady, affronted at having to address the maid.  A distant female voice speaks down the line.  “Oh Mrs. Hatchett, how do you do.  Yes, this is Edith, Miss Chetwynd’s maid.”  Her anxiety lessens slightly, for even though Mrs. Hatchett is somewhat overbearing, she is a banker’s wife and therefore not born with a pedigree that finds talking to the staff offensive.  She listens.  “No.  No, I’m afraid that Miss Chetwynd isn’t in residence Mrs. Hatchett.”  She listens to the disappointed response.  “She’s down at Wickhamford Manor in the Vale of Evesham.”  She listens again.  “It’s Worcestershire Mrs. Hatchett, so I’m afraid it would be a bit difficult for me to fetch her.”  More bemoaning comes down the telephone from Sussex.  “Monday.  She’s there until Monday, Mrs. Hatchett.  I’m expecting her home late Monday evening.”  The distress down the phone is palpable.  “I can take a message for you, if you like Mrs. Hatchett.”

After receiving an affirmative reply, she deposits the receiver next to the telephone with a trembling hand.  It sounds as if Mrs. Hatchett’s arm might fall off in Lettice’s absence from all the moaning she is making.  Yet Edith has had enough practice with her mistress’ clients by now to know that it will be some silly inconsequential matter about her interior design plans that she will want addressed.  Edith brushes her clammy palms down her apron a second time and then picks up the pencil atop of the pad of paper that Lettice left for her to jot any messages on.    

Picking up the receiver she says, “I’m ready for your message now Mrs. Hatchett.  Please go ahead.”

She writes a message based on Mrs. Hatchett’s distressed response.  

“Now, if you’ll just let me read that back to you Mrs. Hatchett.  You’ve changed your mind about the Regency stripe for the soft furnishing covers, and you want chintz.”  A further burbling comes down the phone.  “You want blue chintz to match the walls.”  She listens to Mrs. Hatchett’s confirmation.  “Yes.  Yes I’ll give her that message the very moment she comes through the door Monday evening, Mrs. Hatchett.  Very good.  Good day Mrs. Hatchett.”  

Edith hangs up the receiver and sighs with relief.  “Damn infernal contraption!”  she says as she glares at the telephone shining brightly in the afternoon sun.

She re-reads her pencilled message and frowns.  “Miss Lettice won’t like that.  She hates chintz.  Oh well!”  She shrugs.  “That’s her problem to solve.”  

Edith returns to the dining room and takes up where she left off, hoping that the telephone won’t ring again until Tuesday at least, when Lettice will be back in residence.

The theme for “Looking Close… on Friday” this week is “telephone”.

I hope that this telephone, which kept people connected in the 1920s and keeps them equally connected today is suitable for the theme.  This upper-class domestic scene is different to what you may think, for it is made up entirely of 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures including items from my own childhood.  The telephone you see before you is only two centimetres wide and two centimetres high.  

Fun things to look for in this tableaux include:

The black Bakelite and silver telephone is a 1:12 miniature of a model introduced around 1919.  It is two centimetres wide and two centimetres high.  The receiver can be removed from the cradle, and the curling chord does stretch out.

The vase of orange roses on the Art Deco occasional table is beautifully made by hand by the Doll House Emporium.

The pencil on the pad in front of the telephone is a 1:12 miniature as well, and is only one millimetre wide and two centimetres long.

Lettice’s drawing room is furnished with beautiful J.B.M. miniatures.  The black japanned wooden chair is a Chippendale design and has been upholstered with modern and stylish Art Deco fabric.  The mirror backed back japanned china cabinet is Chippendale too.  On its glass shelves sit pieces of miniature Limoges porcelain including jugs, teacups and saucers.  

To the left of the Chippendale chair stands a blanc de chine Chinese porcelain vase, and next to it, a Chinese screen.  The Chinese folding screen I bought at an antiques and junk market when I was about ten.  I was with my grandparents and a friend of the family and their three children, who were around my age.  They all bought toys to bring home and play with, and I bought a Chinese folding screen to add to my miniatures collection in my curio cabinet at home!  It shows you what a unique child I was.

The green tinged Art Deco glass bowl on the table in the foreground is a hand made miniature from Beautifully Made Miniatures in England.  

The geometric Art Deco wallpaper is beautiful hand impressed paper given to me by a friend, which inspired the whole “Cavendish Mews – Lettice Chetwynd” series.

Taken on: November 15, 2020

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Looking close… on Friday!

Looking close on Friday

Teléfono

phone

tub chair

coffee table

table

chair

cupboard

cabinet

Chippendale chair

Chippendale cabinet

bureau

Limoges porcelain

Limoges china

tea set

teacup

saucer

jug

pencil

notepad

pad

Art Deco

Blanc de chine vase

blanc de chine

glass

screen

folding screen

Chinese screen

lounge chair

painting

frame

miniature

folding Chinese screen

Art Deco pattern

Chippendale furniture

flat

drawing room

wallpaper

Art Deco wallpaper

Art Deco fabric

comport

glass comport

1:12

1:12 scale

dollhouse miniature

dollhouse

toy

antique

artisan

hand made

hand made dollhouse miniature

furniture

Edwardian

dollhouse furniture

interior

tabletop

tabletop photography

miniature room

diorama

tableaux

vase « less

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/2.8, 1/20 sec, 6.2mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.05 sec (1/20)
Focal Length:	6.2mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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