French Bisque Bebe with Gutta Percha Body and Bisque Hands, Trousseau by Huret
Lot #17
18" (46 cm.) Very pale pressed bisque socket head with dainty petite features, plump rounded face, pronounced double chin, light bulb-shaped throat, ice-blue enamel glass inset eyes with spiral threading, dark eyeliner, delicately feathered lashes and brows, mauve blushed eye shadow, accented eye corners, shaded nostrils, closed mouth with shaded and outlined lips, original ash blonde mohair wig over cork pate, gutta percha bebe body based upon the Huret deposed body design, dowel-articulation at the shoulders, elbows, hips and knees, bisque hands with separately defined fingers and knuckles. Condition: generally excellent, very sturdy gutta percha body with some typical restoration, one baby finger has imperceptible restoration. Marks: Huret 54 Boulv. Haussman Paris (kid torso band). Comments: Huret, circa late 1870s, this particular gutta-percha-bodied bebe presumes a very specific moment of history, positioned between the end of Huret's gutta percha-bodied poupee (about 1875/1880) and the beginning of Huret's wooden-bodied bebe (about 1880). It may rightly be considered the very first of the Huret bebes, and it is not likely to have been made for more than one or two years in extremely limited numbers; only one or two other examples are known to exist. Its specific size is notable: although the doll is the exact height (18") of the earlier Huret poupee, its proportions are that of a child (9 1/2" head circumference,10" waist, 12" hips, and with legs that are scaled to the size of the torso exactly like a child's body would be). Even the superb bisque hands were sculpted with the plump roundedness of a child's hand. Curiously, one other example has been sold by Theriault's (July 2012, #54) wearing a nearly identical costume, indicating that the dress may be an original from the Huret firm. Value Points: the extreme rarity of the bebe, its uniquely sculpted face, hands and body, is complemented by its great beauty and quality of bisque and painting. The doll wears her original luxurious purple velvet and lace costume, muslin undergarments with lace trim, stockings, ivory silk bonnet and labeled boots which also bear the paper label of Au Nain Bleu and is preserved in her original trunk that bears the prestige label of "Cardinet, Articles de Voyage" along with other costumes and accessories, including brown coat in velours a Brandebourg with matching muff and cap, white summer dress in fine linen and lace, red and white checkered day dress with embroidered details, ivory jacket in cord du roi, numerous undergarments, three additional caps and bonnets and more. The doll was been preserved for more than 135 years at its original family estate in the Loire valley of France.
