$30,000
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Description
18" (46 cm.) Pressed bisque swivel head on kid-edged bisque shoulder plate with modeled bosom and shoulderblades, very full cheeks and throat, blue glass paperweight inset eyes with spiral threading, thick dark eyeliner, painted lashes, rose-blushed eyeshadow, delicately feathered brows, accented eye corners and nostrils, open mouth with shaded and accented lips, porcelain tongue inside the head set in framework allowing the long tongue to be "stuck out" to receive a biscuit and then tip backward as though swallowing, kid bebe torso, upper legs and arms, bisque forearms with exquisitely sculpted hands, bisque lower legs from above the knee, bisque feet with open soles. Condition: generally excellent. Marks: (circle/dot symbol on head) Bte SGDG (forehead) 1 T (right shoulder) (original paper label on torso). Comments: Leon Casimir Bru, his Bebe Gourmand, first advertised by Bru in 1882 as "delicieux bebe a surprise"; although he described the bebe as a registered model no record of its depose has been found. The bebe has two hollow tubes hidden inside the torso, and when a tiny biscuit is placed on the tongue, it falls backward as though being swallowed, falls through one of the tubes, and comes out through one of the open foot soles. Value Points: exceptionally rare, few models are known to exist, original condition, with outstanding quality of bisque and sculpting especially notable in hands and muscular legs, choicest bisque and complexion, superbly painted features and splendid eyes, wonderful antique costume.