Móveis em miniatura: a demonstração de um saber fazer

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to furniture miniatures, which interest exists possibly since the natural size furniture becomes an element of civilization. Even if furniture miniatures can be seen by their ritualistic and mortuary functions since ancient times as a way to meet the needs of life beyond death, we can also observe them as real furniture symbols, perceived by their playful character, as toys; or by their function, as useful objects. But there is another aspect that refers to the elaborate process of furniture construction in the eighteenth century, in which an artisan should demonstrate its ability to produce miniature perfectly equal to those in natural size. It is possible to propose, however, another way of understanding the miniature furniture: the presence of such objects of reduced dimensions in the colonial Brazilian art, taking as an example the throne of Santana Master, which leads to the interpretation of a double meaning - an specific devotion coupled with the demonstration of a “savoir-faire”.