Oval tin box "100 years of Ot and Sien"

Oval tin box "100 years of Ot and Sien".

• Manufacturer: Decanned B.V. Zwanenburg NL
• Manufacturing date: 2004

Description
Beautiful decorative tin box "100 years of Ot and Sien". This tin has three different images of Ot and Sien, namely on the front and back as well as on the lid.

This tin has an oval shape and is provided with a separate lid. Tin is marked on the bottom with the text: Wolters Noordhof B.V. represented by EM. TV and Wavery B.V. Decanned B.V. Zwanenburg NL www.decanned.nl

Condition
This tin is in a good condition with normal traces of use and age-related traces of wear. Pictures are part of the description.

Size

• Height: 22.4 cm.
• Length: 18 cm.
• Width: 13 cm.

Ot and Sien is a Dutch children's book series, written by Hindericus Scheepstra, a teacher in Drenthe, the Netherlands. It centers around two little children, a boy named Ot and a girl named Sien.

It was the start of a new method of writing children's books and had a profound influence on Dutch elementary education in the first half of the twentieth century.

Ot and Sien are the main characters in a series of Dutch children's tales that were very popular in the first half of the twentieth century. The first series titled Dicht bij Huis ("Close to home"), appeared in 1902. The second series Nog bij Moeder ("Still with mother"), followed in 1904. The author of the stories was Hindericus Scheepstra (nl). However, he acted on the inspiration of Jan Ligthart, who had the intention to expose young people to what he considered a healthy daily family life. The illustrations were made by Cornelis Jetses (nl).

After WWII the stories of Ot and Sien gradually went out of fashion and they were often ridiculed for the unrealistic picture they gave of life in the province. A century after their appearance there is a revival in the interest for the publications and in 2004 an exposition was held, focusing mostly on the artwork by Jetses.

Ot (short for Otto) and Sien (short for e.g. Francine) are two next-door neighbors, a boy and a girl. Their illustrations were based on two children that actually lived in Jetses' neighborhood. The stories are situated in Drenthe that was at the time the most impoverished province of the Netherlands where quite a few people were still living in dwellings constructed of peat and sods. The surrounding poverty is nowhere to be seen in the stories that depict a very idealized version of reality. 

Some translations come from an automated system and may contain errors.