Vintage Model Retrospective

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

Here is the first paragraph in full:

Sedan chairs seem to be a particularly European mode of transportation. First seen in the French town of Sedan, hence the name, the 17th century invention quickly spread across Europe among the hoity toity and hoi polloi alike.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[Don Boose]

Thanks for the elegant explanation of sedan chairs in general and of these antiques decoupages in particular.

It is wonderful that you are making these historic models available and providing context and narrative for them. I verymuch appreciate all the work kyou put into this.

Don

[Philip]

This ever-entertaining thread has done it for me again with the more elaborate sedan chair. Stunning.

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

And hello again, Don and Philip, and thanks for your interest in these old models that Tom and I have enjoyed bringing to both you and the other members of the forum. And congratulations Don on your 20,000 contributions to this always interesting site.

I enjoyed building the sedan chairs in particular as they so clearly demonstrate the wide variety of subject matter that paper models embrace. In what other form of modeling would you find a sedan chair? Well, it so happens I can answer that question.

Attached find four examples of sedan chair created in the workshops of Carl Fabergé. I don’t know much about their history, but I’m presenting them here to show the esteem in which sedan chairs were once held. These beautiful creations were made from the finest materials and by the most talented hands in the world at the time. Remarkable.

The fifth chair pictured below is the traveling trophy for the now defunct Tunbridge Wells Sedan Chair Race that used to be run in August during the English bank holiday. Sadly, the rough and tumble race was canceled some time ago as it had become too expensive to insure.

All for now,

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

It’s not often that the topic of assassination is mentioned in these pages, but it happens to be the connecting theme of today’s vintage paper models. I was surprised at the number of assassination models that have come to light and there are certainly more to be discovered. Of the five models seen below, four of them show the victim immediately after the attack while the last shows the skulking assassins preparing to commit the crime. Disturbing as they are, these dioramas capture and describe these violent moments and serve as reminders to the lengths people will go to change the direction of history.

First is the shocking beheading of the Assyrian General Holoferness by the widow Judith. The story comes from the Book of Judith, a second-canonical book recognized by the older denominations of Christianity. In it, the beautiful Judith was allowed to enter the General’s tent as he had expressed a prurient interest in her. Judith came prepared, bringing along a woman servant who concealed a sword and large bag as she waited outside the tent. Judith’s intent was to brutally assassinate the General, as he was preparing to destroy Judith’s home city of Bethulia. As she plied him with drink, he passed out, the maid entered, the sword was drawn and the result is seen in the diorama below. The gruesome scene was often painted during the Renaissance and remains well-known enough to be published as a twentieth century paper model. Published by Editorial El Gato Negro of Barcelona, Spain, the drawing is signed by Vinaixa.

For those of us who scour the internet for old paper models to add to our digital collections, the Pellerin model titled, Assassinat de Kléber au Carie, or the Assassination of Kléber in Cairo, is familiar. It commemorates the killing of General Jean-Baptiste Kléber in Cairo, Egypt. As leader of France’s Eastern Expedition during Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, he was a natural target for vengeful locals who resented the French invasion. On June, 14th, 1800, Suleiman al-Halabi, posing as a beggar, entered Kléber’s residence and upon seeing the General, pulled a knife and stabbed him four times, killing him. Running from the scene, he was quickly captured, tortured, tried and sentenced. His torture and execution on June 17th, is too appalling to recount here. His body was dissected and his skeleton was removed to Paris where it resides today, fully articulated, in a storeroom of the French anthropology museum, Musée de l’Homme. Suleiman al-Halabi’s story is remembered because, unwarranted though it may be, a successful assassin forever attaches his name with that of his victim. A sad quirk in history.

Among the most famous assassinations in history is that of Gaius Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 B.C. It has been dramatically depicted many times in plays, films and television dramas and is seen here in a Spanish paper model. The well-known story is that Caesar sought to be crowned Emperor of Rome and members of the Roman senate conspired against him. The plan was for the conspirators to gather for a meeting of the Senate and kill Caesar by stabbing him to death under the gaze of Pompey the Great’s statue. Estimates of the number of murderers vary, but it’s believed that at least 40 were present for the assassination. As built, the paper model shows two assassins and one frightened witness. However, the original drawing only included one assassin and I copied and added another to fill out the scene. The model was published by Editorial Hernando S.A. of Madrid, Spain.

William Tell is known to have shot the apple from his son’s head, but why did he do it? In the early 14th century, the land now known as Switzerland was ruled by a corrupt branch of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty and Tell was a rebel who sought independence for his canton of Uri. The brutal, Habsburg appointed bailiff, Albrecht Gessler, held many powers over the local citizenry. In order to shame the downtrodden locals, he had his hat placed high on a tall staff and forced the populous to bow to it when they passed. William Tell refused to bow. An enraged Gessler threatened Tell with execution, or, to save his life, Tell could shoot an apple set on his son’s head. An expert with his crossbow, Tell made the shot and admitted to Gessler that if had killed his son, he would have shot Gessler next. Gessler instantly ordered his arrest. After miraculously escaping his detention, Tell ambushed Gessler and killed him with a bolt from his crossbow. This assassination led to a strengthening of the coalition with neighboring cantons and led to William Tell being known as the father of the Swiss Confederacy. The paper model was published by Schwarzwald-Verlag, or Black Forest Publishers. A Translation suggests the image came from a, “Large Collection of French Illustrated Sheets.” A notation on the drawing says, von Erard, or, by Erard, possibly the artist. My favorite part of the diorama is that Gessler’s horse appears to me smiling.

Lastly, the most obscure assassination of the five. Roman rule throughout Europe had brought some benefits to the conquered peoples, but it also brought rebellion. And among the rebels of the western Iberian Peninsula, Viriato stands apart. Also known as Viriathus, Viriato remains a hero among the modern-day Portuguese. Virtually nothing is known about his origins, but he rose to be the premier military and societal leader of his time, and caused all manner of problems for the Roman occupiers. During his nine years of service, between 147 B.C .to 139 B.C., he proved to be a master of war in both set-piece battles and in the art of guerrilla warfare. The Romans saw that it would be easier to defeat the man than to defeat his tactics and they ultimately decided to assassinate Viriato. In an effort to stop the war, Viriato had sent three ambassadors across the lines to negotiate terms. Rather than parley, the Romans bribed the three, known to history as Audax, Ditalcus and Minurus to kill Viriato. The three traitors returned to Viriato’s camp and killed the great warrior as he slept. When they approached the Romans to be paid for their treachery, they were told, "Rome does not pay traitors who kill their chief.” The paper model of the event was published by Editorial Hernando S.A. of Madrid, Spain.

All the models cited here, with the exception of Assassinat de Kléber au Carie, came from the collection of Tom Greensfelder.

All for now,

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[John Wagenseil]

ABC a long time ago published a diorama of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
Unfortunately, it is almost an example of unobtanium.
I have come across pictures of Japanese tatebanko depicting assassinations that occurred in the Meiji and pre-Meiji eras.

This is contemporary newspaper account of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/P823KD/eng...evo-P823KD.jpg
Soon thereafter, Kaiser Willhelm gave the Austrian foreign minister a blank check, and then the world changed.

[Vermin_King]

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

ABC a long time ago published a diorama of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
Unfortunately, it is almost an example of unobtanium.
.

This one, John?

[John Wagenseil]

Originally Posted by Vermin_King

This one, John?

Yes, I have seen pictures of it on archival ABC sites; and have seen it for sale on European paper models sites, but postage is many times the cost of the booklet.
The events subsequent to Franz Ferdinand's death exerted great changes on the lives of my immediate ancestors.

[Mike Stamper]

I'm a bit late, but ABC have recently added a few more to their collection. One is a diorama of "defenestration" during the Hussite wars in what became the Czech republic.

Here is one of my favourite sites - PaperModel.cz Miroslav seems to have all the ABC models a quick email to him may unearth the assasination.

Cheers
Mike

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

And thanks John, V.K. and Mike for your comments on this post.

John, it doesn’t surprise me that there would be tatebanko that depict assassinations. I have little knowledge about the Japanese dioramas, but they often seem to be about one struggle or another.

V.K. It was interesting to see the colorful ABC model of the last moments of the Archduke. Too bad his driver took the wrong turn in Sarajevo.

And thanks, Mike, for the directions to the PaperModel.cz site.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog