Doll

Object Name:

Doll

Object ID:

1971.074.02

Place of Origin:

Germany

Date:

circa 1850

Description:

Doll, girl. Porcelain ceramic head and hands. Mold marks across top of shoulders, up side of head, across top and down other side. Black hair of ceramic with curls next to and above ears and on front and side. Curls around lower portion of head on back. Black eyebrows, black upper eyelashes. Blue eyes, black pupils, pink lips, and a little rouge on cheeks. Black imperfections in porcelain. Porcelain extends down below arm attachment level on front and back. Then goes up on sides to above arm level. Two holes on front and back of porcelain in bottom edge of porcelain for attachment to body. Soft linen body. Body cover fine white cloth with hemmed edge and small pleated design around top edge that extends upwards. Arms articulated at shoulders. Arm appears to be soft leather covering over stuffing on left. Leather medium brown. Plain, white porcelain hand and wrist. Hand and fingers one piece molded together with some detailing between fingers. Fingers roughly sculpted. Chip missing on thumb. Left hand is right-hand configuration. Combination of leather and some textile to create shape of arm, articulated at shoulder. White porcelain wrist and hand on right arm with some sculpting. Hand correct for being right hand. Narrow waist for body. Waist flares outward and down. Legs articulated below waist and at knees. Cloth body pinched and sewn together at joints. Pinched textile creates hinge. Wearing pantaloons. Plain, white, woven cloth with fairly fine weave. Hemmed edge at bottom. Sewn on, decorative band around bottom edge of legs of pantaloons consisting of slightly pointed scallops with alternating eyelets and small, geometric designs in alternating scallops. Pantaloons extend ~5.5" from floor. Pantaloons gathered at waist, sewn to plain band, fastened with white porcelain button left side. Hemmed slit below button that extends downward ~4". Rather full white slip with hem at bottom edge, 1.2" high. Bottom border edge material sewn to slip. Also, ~1.2" wide. Pattern embroidered and consists of four, oval holes above a scallop with a couple fanciful leaves on either side. Hole patterns alternate with stem with five leaves in geometric shape. Slip gathered and sewn at waist with plain band. Slip fastened at waist with straight pin at back. Long skirt that extends to about 3" above floor. Consists of woven brown background with parallel narrow stripes of dark and light brown thread. Pattern repeat ~0.3". Skirt extends downward about 7.5" to plain, brown, folded tape, sewn around perimeter. Below tape, applied border ~3" wide. Top 2" are same striped cloth, but at 45 degree angle. Plain tape to bottom edge of this as above, but 0.8" wide and folds over bottom edge. This diagonal band hangs over main dress material and hemmed at bottom edge. On inside skirt below bottom edge, piece of plain material, 2.5" wide. Shiny surface. Sewn at top of bottom, incorporated into bottom hem. Top gathered and sewn to band of same material, fastened at back with large safety pin. Some of narrow bias tape coming off. Plain brown dress with same striped material for sleeves. Navy collar with plain bias tape, flat across back, comes up both sides over shoulder, goes down to middle of chest, then horizontal, meeting at front edge. Some plain brown piping around top edge of sleeves. Sleeves extend to hand. Some lace around bottom edge. Two plain tape cuffs, parallel to each other at cuff of sleeve. Top portion of dress tapered to waist, then expands out to become fairly full. Twelve Mother-of-Pearl buttons down front of dress. Folded tape, decorative border bottom edge of hemmed dress. Border fabric thread very weak. Decorative pocket on left side of dress, 2" wide, 3.1" tall. Made of pleated striped material running vertically for both pleats and stripes. Single, plain tape band near top edge of pocket. Semi-circular splay of lace sticking out of top of pocket. Dress extends to about 4.5" from floor. Knee high, plain, woven, off-white colored socks. Black leather boots with semi-western style. Big scallops around top edge of black leather. Four, round black buttons holding boots together on sides. Brown leather sole. Tall, black heels with brown bottom. Heels 0.4" high. Boots 3.1" high. A couple horizontal ribbons attached to backside of plain skirt, attached at sides. May have been elastisized at some point. Purely speculation. Fabric weak with a number of torn areas. Detached tapes in several areas.

Material:

Ceramic
Textile
Linen
Mother-of-Pearl
Leather

Dimensions:

H-23 W-11 D-4 inches

Provenance:

Belonged to Annie Louise Mills (1866-1951) of Haverhill, MA.

Credit Line:

Gift of Mrs. John W. Durgin, Jr.

People:

Mills, Annie Louise (1866-1951)

Subjects:

Dolls