$12,000
Sold
sold
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Description
18" (46 cm.) Brown cotton doll with stitch-shaped face, three-seamed head, stitched-on self-fabric nose and ears, coral cotton stitched-on full lips, uniquely stitched eyes with heavy eyelids, large black pupils and red painted lashes, black yarn hair, all-brown cotton cloth body with loose-hinged jointing at shoulders and hips, wearing blue cotton calico gown, patterned petticoat, stockings, brown leather shoes, pinafore, plaid scarf. Condition: generally excellent. Comments: made by American artist Dewees Cochran in 1935, a one-of-a-kind doll named "Nana" by her. In her memoir, As If They Might Speak, Cochran wrote of this doll and featured her photograph in the Prologue and on page 121. Various correspondence from Dewees Cochran is included with the doll, including a January 1973 letter in which she confirmed of Nana that "I only made one of her". Value Points: unique doll by prestigious American artist is perfectly preserved and has complete provenance, having been in the hands of Dewees Cochran herself until 1973, then acquired by Ben McGuire of Houston, where Nana remained until the 1996 acquisition by a third owner, where the doll remained until its presentation here.