I have always had an ambition to create my own paper doll environment (never so ambitious to want to build it in three dimensions, but have for years conceived of a flat surface "house" with various rooms and props). Probably made a few as a child, but none of them survived, alas. I remember very distinctly drawing and coloring tiny little food items and cutting them out. One of these days maybe I will attempt another. Looking at these examples lately certainly is inspiring!
Here are a couple of pictures from another amazing 19th century doll house environments (these are also authentic from the period!). Both feature typical McLaughlin dolls of the late 1900s. To see a couple more "rooms" in this amazing collection, check out A Home for Dolly.
I have always had an ambition to create my own paper doll environment (never so ambitious to want to build it in three dimensions, but have for years conceived of a flat surface "house" with various rooms and props). Probably made a few as a child, but none of them survived, alas. I remember very distinctly drawing and coloring tiny little food items and cutting them out. One of these days maybe I will attempt another. Looking at these examples lately certainly is inspiring! Note to self: Maybe if I just stopped fretting about writing something and posted pretty pictures I would be able to update more often. But in the spirit of trying to do this right. I have for you today an embossed chromo-lithographed paper doll probably from the early 1890s. Royal subjects were very popular and this one is Kaiserin Augusta Victoria of the Hohenzollern Portrait dolls produced by W & S. The seller of this doll notes that "The same doll is shown on page 13 of Marta K. Kreb's book The Royalty of Paper Dolls and a copy is reproduced in that book as a centerfold." I have that book and this is entirely true This is an image of the original, however, and it sold on eBay this year for $67.68 (seems like a bargain price to me!).
The doll was accompanied by four gowns, one jacket, and two hats. The doll measures 6 1/2" from the top of the head to the tip of the toe. It's interesting that the original does not include the square base pictured in Kreb's book. Here is a pair of dolls from the Nadelman Folk Art Collection at the New York Historical Society. The collection looks lovely ~ unfortunately these were the only images from it that I could find to share, but the site does have a lot of other wonderful ephemera to browse through. Anyway, these handmade dolls are a wonderful example of mid-1800s paper dolls made by loving hands: "Jessy" and "John". There is great quality in the details: the patterns on the woman's apron and dress, the full milk pail, the tiny shoes, the ribbon on the hat, the curl in her hair. It's interesting that both dolls are in profile, facing in the same direction. They may have been copied from images in magazines or books (or at least modeled after such). John, has a nice book in his hand, a subtle pattern on his trousers (very fashionable in the 50s), and you gotta love the carpet and the chair. John appears to be from the 50s because of his clothing and hairstyle (Jessy is not as easy to place in time since her simple dress could easily be from a number of decades.). But John's sideburns, lack of a mustache, broad-skirted frock coat, and patterned light-colored trousers seem to set him solidly somewhere between 1845 and 1860. The finding aid dates one of these dolls are definitely from 1855 and the other as undated. I wouldn't be surprised if John was the dated doll or if they were made at roughly the same time. As always, you can see a little more detail if you click on the images. Today a doll that testifies to America's unending fascination with the foreign royals: a doll of the Czarina of Russia with a veil and traditional Russian costume. Also, the inclusion of a dressing screen described as a "piece of furniture" on the back of the doll (I didn't post the verso here). This is one of many dolls produced by McLaughlin's Coffee and was found on eBay. McLaughlin produced these dolls mostly around the turn of the century. Based on the costumes, this one was likely created in the early to mid-1890s.
Today’s offering comes from Eclectibles.com, a very cool online market with lots of funky Victorian ephemera. This particular piece is listed as “Uncut Paper Doll Sheet, Neue Ankleidefiguren, with 4 Paper Dolls with Costumes & Room Settings 1880s”. The description from the website reads: A 13 ½ x 17” color paper doll sheet titled Neue Ankleidefiguren (New Dressing Figures) No. 1198 with four (4) different paper dolls the costumes and accessories. Includes two young women, each approx. 5 ½” high, each with two costumes, hats and furniture accessories. The third is a bid more matronly and perhaps a maid, as she has various serving items associated with her costumes. The final is an infant or baby with three costumes an bundle, hats, a rattle and a bassinet. Paper age toned with board chips. Fragile. The lot is currently selling for $90. These are lovely in their simplicity and variety (and all the lovely little props). Some of the nicest Victorian paper dolls I've seen have been produced by European printers. The subjects seem generally more sophisticated (possibly due to the popularity of royal personages) compared to most American paper dolls of the same era, which tended to represent children and storybook characters. As always, click on the images to see them at their best. I may share a number of items from this website as it contains a good number of pieces that I have not seen elsewhere around the web. It’s always cool to come upon new stuff! Here are a couple of "nostalgic" Victorian children enjoying some winter holiday fun. I figured they would be appropriate as winter has hit bottom and thinking back to the holiday part of it seems like a good idea ~ it's either that or the coming of Spring, which I am never personally anxious for. The artist on these is Carol Endler Sterbenz and the doll's names are Emily and Jonathan. I especially like the little details on the doll stands (holly and ivy) and the added touch of the gilded pair of scissors on the second page (to fill in some unused space. The little cat is also kind of cute. It's not really possible to assign these dolls a particular decade. They are kind of "generic" Victorian and could really come from just about any time during the 19th century. Since the girl's dress is covered by a coat that could have been in style from 1840-1900, further details are wanting. The boy's frilly suit, too, was in and out of vogue for most of the century. At any rate, they are a nice pair, lovingly executed and fun to share on a Fashion Plate Friday (in lieu of an actual Fashion Plate, since I haven't posted any actual paper dolls in a some time ~ yikes). You can find large-size (more printable) versions of these dolls at the Mostly Paper Dolls blog. They were originally printed in FIRST magazine, in 1989. The good news is: it's 2011 and with a new year comes a new opportunity to get things off to a good start (renewal and all that). The bad news is: my home internet problems continue, alarmingly, and though I wanted to post while I was on break, I was not able to. So it may be that I can only post when I am at the university and have time. Boo on that, but it's better than nothing, right? Anyway, today's offering is a little McLoughlin dog from the late 1800s. Victorians were no less ridiculous about their pets than we are today and generations of lap dogs and "ratters" such as this adorable little doggie were made to endure foolish dressing up at the hands of their mistresses (and some masters, I'm sure). Anyway, this doggie is a tad more anthropomorphic, since she's got a lorgnette. Either way, she's hilarious. I have resolutions for the new year, but I am in a dash to post this, so they will have to wait until I have more time. As a consolation I offer this lovely little play piece, a French theater from 1890 in the collection of Eric G. Bernard, which is on display at the Bruce Museum. To see more amazing images of 19th century theaters, check out this fabulous link! Not quite a paper doll, but one of those fun pieces of ephemera from days gone by. From the description on eBay where I found this little gem (as always, click on the image to see a little more detail): A cut and assembled 10" x 8 3/4" mechanical advertising supplement from the Sunday Dec. 8th, 1901 N.Y. Journal. It depicts Santa Claus decending the chimney with the children waiting below by a fireplace with great anticipation. A tab at the base of the bricks is pulled to allow Santa to descend the chimney, seated in the fireplace behind the stockings--toys strewn about. Copyright 1901 W. R. Hearst. Technically, it's not quite 19th Century and just past "Victorian", but I couldn't resist posting it anyway. I have a number of other Christmasy dolls and things, but this one was on hand, so I'll have to save the others for another time. Meanwhile, my home internet has not been working (hence the sad lack of posts since last month). We had a spat of terrifically wintery weather and that tends to blunt my connection. And now that it's working again, unfortunately I am off for the holidays. So I will have to pick it up in the new year. The good news is that I have so much exciting stuff to share! See you in 2011! In honor of the holidays, we have this appropriately dated November 24th, 1895 art supplement to the Boston Sunday Globe, which printed a lot of fun cut-outs and paper dolls at the turn of the century and into the next. This one is interesting as it shows a traditional family: mother, father, son, and daughter, all sitting down to their holiday meal.
These interesting assemblies are a strange lot. Definitely a lost plaything of the past. Click on the image to see the work in more detail! I meant to post a nice fashion plate yesterday for Fashion Plate Friday (was hoping to get that going again), but yesterday turned out to be rather busy, so I blew it. But I won't let the weekend go without posting something (because, surprise surprise, I am still working on the dolls and don't know when I will finish ~ and don't want to make any more promises that I can't keep! But anyway, I still missed Fashion Plate Friday, so I present you, instead, an antique paper doll from a series recently selling on eBay (a.k.a. the devil). The seller of these dolls has been posting them one at a time and each has been selling for upwards of $150-$200. I can see why for the real collector: they are absolutely gorgeous. Pysche was a popular French ladies' magazine and produced quite a few paper dolls during the 1830s and 1840s. If you look at posts under the category Antique, you may find others. One of the characteristics of many Victorian paper dolls is that they were double-sided. Or rather, they were built to be viewed from the front and the back. This required a level of artistry on the illustrators and it also required careful assembly on the part of those who cut them out and played with them. The double-sided image was important to girls and dressmakers throughout the century: fashions were made to be as equally pleasing from the back as they were from the front. This was especially true of the bustle era. For this doll, the hat is a separate two-sided article as well. Click on the image below to see a little bit better detail. Although there are a number of these dolls that have been posted for sale, I chose this one because it's a very cold morning (about 20 degrees), and the winter ermine looks nice and cozy. Also, the date of the doll and the current date were nicely close. |
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