Major Miniature Collection

Exhibit Raleigh, NC

by Dick Bryant

The city of Compiegne, France, has a museum housing one of the finest collections of miniatures in the world. Over 100,000 miniatures are on display in the museum and additional figures are stored, providing the museum with the capacity to rotate displays. Compiegne's is the only museum in France devoted solely to the presentation of historical figurines.

Much of the Museum's collection is military in nature, consisting of dioramas of historically significant events and groupings of military and other figures representing different periods of history. The collection also includes figures of antiquity from the Orient and from European sources and reproductions of ancient figurines from Grecian and Egyptian collections. One portion of the collection is organized to trace the development of the art of figurine from ancient to more modern times.

The museum has existed since 1948. The de facto curator and the man responsible for creating the dynamic dioramas and models in this collection is Abbe Robert DuCoin. Abbe DuCoin has been associated with the museum since 1976, and has donated to it his own personal collection of miniatures many of which he made himself. The Abbe6 has a background as a engineer and as a serving officer of French Artillery in WWII. His experience as an engineer, and his contacts in the world's of art and architectural design have been of great help in the Abbe's crafting of the many buildings and other structures populating the dioramas which he has created at the museum.

The photograph above is of the diorama of the Review of the Emperor before the Tuileries Palace. This magnificent work, along with others such as the Return of Napoleon's Ashes, will be on exhibit in Raleigh, North Carolina for one month beginning in May, 1992. Compiegne is a sister-city to Raleigh, and has graciously allowed a major portion of the collection including artifacts such as First Empire Cuirasss and helmet, a display of edged weapons of the period, and original Rousselot plates to be exhibited in Raleigh as part of Raleigh's bicentennial celebration, and incidentally to provide the opportunity for miniature enthusiasts in this country to view this truly outstanding collection.

The event is in the planning stages at this time. For further details write to Joel Haas, 3215 Merriman Ave., Raleigh, NC 27607 or call E. A. Mohrmann at (919) 851-8919

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