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German Blue Roof Schoolhouse with Music Box

Germany ca. 1905, an unusual schoolhouse intended for the French market, with lithographed exterior exhibiting traits associated with Gottschalk buildings, notably the distinctive blue painted roof and sponge-painted base. The underside of the raised base is marked with the number 8, and the winding key for the working music box is located there. The exterior front and side walls are papered with a half-timbered and brick design with a three-dimensional clock-faced medallion accenting the front roof gable. The roof is hinged to open from the front, allowing the two front panels to open and reveal a schoolroom with delightfully illustrated French maps of the Loire and Ardeche regions and pictures (probably from a Paris Exhibition) pasted on the walls. The interior is papered with a plain mint green wall treatment with an applied wood-grained dado and one lithographed window. The consignor purchased the schoolhouse unfurnished at the recent auction of the Mary Merritt Doll Museum and added six antique wooden school desks and a blackboard that came out of an old schoolhouse. A removable lithographed cardboard floor features a colorful red, white and blue tile pattern. The music box is concealed beneath a small raised platform in one corner of the room. Includes four pink cardboard school certificates. Provenance: The Mary Merritt Doll Museum. 13.5" H., 19" W., 9" D. Very Good (damage to the trim on one roof gable, and signs of old insect damage to wood)