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Fashion doll
Unknown1820/1829
Nordiska Museet
Stockholm, Sweden
Doll with clothes.
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Details
- Title: Fashion doll
- Creator: Unknown
- Date Created: 1820/1829
- Subject: Doll
- Physical Dimensions: h47 cm
- More Information: Dolls have long been popular toys among girls. Human figures in miniature are found in all sorts of materials, from ancient clay figures to today's plastic dolls with painted faces and synthetic hair. This doll is dressed like an elegant lady from the early nineteenth century. She has several bright dresses in thin fabrics with a high waist, typical of the Empire style that was in vogue during the Napoleonic period. The doll has a red plaid woollen cape, a couple of silk scarves, a bag and a lace handkerchief. The face and curly dark hair are painted on. The head is made of papier mâché, a material long used in France for doll making. France has a long tradition of creating fashion dolls with well-made dresses using exclusive fabrics. The clothes were hand-sewn by skilled seamstresses. They were often copies of the clothes that adult women wore. In the Middle Ages, dolls were sent between royal households to demonstrate new dress designs. Mass production of papier mâché dolls' heads began in the early 1800s in Germany. In the second half of the nineteenth century, porcelain heads gradually became more common. These were also manufactured on a large scale at the Swedish porcelain factories Rörstrand and Gustavsberg. This allowed more girls to own their own doll, although for most it remained a pipe dream. Dolls were expensive toys that were taken great care of. In many families, they were kept and passed down from mother to daughter.
- Materials and Techniques: Head and shoulders made of papier mâché, painted facial features, painted black hair, stuffed body covered with white cloth. Hands made of white leather.
- Type: Toy
- Rights: Photo: © Nordiska museet
- External Link: http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/docka/S-NM/NM.0082873A-H
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