# A19: Maryland Dining Room, 1770–74

- By: Narcissa Niblack Thorne (American, 1882–1966)
- Date: c. 1940
- Medium: Miniature room, mixed media
- Classification: Miniature room
- Dimensions: External: 56.9 × 108.6 × 81.3 cm (22 3/8 × 42 3/4 × 32 in.); Internal (main room only): 35.3 × 71.8 × 54 cm (13 7/8 × 28 1/4 × 21 1/4 in.)
- Culture: United States
- Credit line: Gift of Mrs. James Ward Thorne
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/45366)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/b66e8a08-0568-b370-dcfc-1e392729aeef/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Narcissa Niblack Thorne, creator of the Thorne Rooms, combined a deep knowledge of design history with a vivid imaginative sensibility. In the 1930s, she assembled a team of skilled artisans in Chicago to construct a series of intricately detailed interiors at the scale of one inch to one foot (1:12).

Conceived as a visual history of interior design, the rooms are at once scholarly and inventive. Meticulously researched and carefully composed, they balance historical accuracy with artistic interpretation. Each atmospheric interior feels like a stage set awaiting its occupants—two parts fantasy, one part history, and entirely absorbing.

Entry from Fannia Weingartner, Miniature Rooms: The Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2nd ed. (The Art Institute of Chicago, 2004):

19: Maryland Dining Room, 1770–74 This interior follows rather closely the original dining room of the Hammond-Harwood house, Annapolis, built for Mathias Hammond, planter, lawyer, and later legislator, by William Buckland. The British-born master builder and architect first acquired a reputation for his work in Virginia (see A–20: Virginia Dining Room, 1758). Sadly, the prospective bride for whom…

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0