Japanese Dollhouse

The famous heiress Huguette Clark, the daughter of American industrialist and copper tycoon William A. Clark, loved dollhouses. It happened in the 1900s when she wanted to buy the Japanese-style dollhouse, but first she needed to gain permission from the Japanese government to use a special cedar reserved for the construction of imperial buildings.

She commissioned Japanese miniatures of houses, temples and tea shops. She had a special interest in Japan and its culture and employed famous Japanese artisans to ensure that the buildings would be historical and culturally correct. She was very demanding and expected much skill from her dollhouse craft-workers. If something was a tad off scale, she would send it back until she was satisfied. However, she was very generous and would pay them unreasonably high!

Price: $80,000