Chinese Wooden Young Student from Door of Hope Mission

Live Auction

12" (30 cm.) Carved wooden head with short side-parted painted hair, carved and tinted facial features, cloth torso, wooden hands. Condition: generally excellent. Comments: Chinese Door of Hope Mission, circa 1920. Value Points: handsome young man with well-defined intelligent expression, wearing original blue cotton long-sleeved tunic with black pants tied at the ankles, black silk vest with soutache loops, black silk cap and slippers. During the 1920s, young Mary Louise Ulmer of Pottsville, Pa. traveled with her parents to China and other countries of the Far East, collecting artifacts from those voyages. These artifacts remained in the family holdings for three generations, until this time, a century later, during which they have been carefully nurtured and preserved. Among the artifacts are the Door of Hope dolls presented here, for the first time on the collecting market. A copy of the letter of provenance is presented with each doll.