Doll

Object Name:

Doll

Object ID:

1970.013.01

Place of Origin:

Germany

Date:

circa 1898

Description:

Doll, "MINERVA". Ferrous metal head covered with celluloid and enamel. Painted eyes, eyelashes, eyebrows. Painted little dots inside center of eye near nose. Painted holes in eyelids for fold. Black-brown eyebrows. Open mouth with painted lips. Light brown short curly hair all over. Skin pink and tan. Mold mark across top shoulder, up neck, over head and down other side; goes behind ears, across neck to shoulder. Bisque porcelain hands. Kid body. On front, bottom edge of metal extends down to about middle of arm attachment on either side. On back, bottom edge extends downward same level as front. On sides, bottom of metal extends upward to above arm attachment. Arm articulated at shoulder, slightly flexible at elbow. Porcelain hands with cast fingers and separate thumb extend upwards to just below elbow. Porcelain off-white and slightly dirty. Mold marks on porcelain. Right arm slightly more flexible at elbow than left. Something loose in head that rattles. White blouse, slightly darkened by age. Embroidered decoration around neck. Embroidered decoration creating a "V" on front, extending from shoulder seam down to front center near waist. One silk ribbon on front, folded over to make it narrower and to look like two narrow ribbons and expands of back to become bigger bow. Ribbons and bows appear to be knotted and not sewn together. Narrow satin band at waist around bottom edge of blouse, 0.4" wide. Wraps around bottom edge of blouse. Ribbed texture. Blouse sleeves slightly tapered to embroidered hem at bottom edge. Some decorative lace below edge of sleeve. Blouse sleeve ~three-quarters length of arm. Kid body slightly narrow at waist. Body extends downward to just below groin area. Tops of legs from groin ~1.75" long. Bottom of leg stubs rounded. Yoke fits over leg stubs on legs themselves and metal hinge on outside edges of yokes. Allows legs to articulate forward and slightly backwards. Kid legs continue down to knees, articulated as well. Knees rely upon deep sewn-in "valley" on front of knee in leather flexibility to create hinge. Leg has woven cloth covering below knee over stuffing material. White pantaloons with hem at bottom and sewn-lace around bottom edge. Lace scalloped ~0.5" wide. Pantaloons ~5" above floor level. Tops of pantaloons gathered and sewn to plain band with mother-of-pearl fastener on left side. Next, rather full slip with hemmed bottom edge, 3.3" wide. Another band of scalloped edge lace sewn at bottom. Slip ~0.5" above floor level. Slip gathered and sewn to wide band at top edge, held together by safety pin at back. Long slit in back of slip with hemmed edges. Appears to be rather full, gathered skirt of fine woven white material. Embroidered band 6" wide around bottom edge with pointed scallop pattern. Clusters of small decorative holes to create geometric pattern. Some fanciful floral patterns and some stems and leaves and blossoms included in repetitive design. Skirt extends to within inch of floor level. Whether on purpose or not, slip underneath shows below skirt level. Skirt gathered and sewn together to a plain band around top. Fastened with safety pin at rear. Figure wearing almost knee-length blue socks with diamond pattern and tan and white lines creating diamonds. No shoes. Stamped on front and back of shoulders with raised letters, "Minerva" and "Germany".

Material:

Textile
Composition
Metal
Leather
Enamel
Satin
Mother-of-Pearl

Dimensions:

H-24.5 W-14 D-5 inches

Credit Line:

Gift of Cora Young

Subjects:

Dolls