(music) - These dollhouses are very much tied to women.
They are not for children.
They were not toys.
We think of them more as truly collector's pieces at this point.
And someone like Petranella Oortman, who received it as a gift upon her marriage, that's very common.
Almost all of the surviving doll's houses in the Netherlands today are tied to a marriage.
- A wedding gift.
For you.
(brooding music) - While women in the Dutch golden age might not have had much agency outside of the home, the doll's house was a place in which they could have dominion over it.
It was like a miniature home that they would control, they would commission pieces for it.
They could take ownership of something.
It was a way they could work with craftsmen, go to shops, furnish these homes with a wide range of materials.
(music)
