French All-Leather Doll with Painted Features and Original Costume

Live Auction

10" (25 cm.) Firmly-stuffed all-brown leather doll has stitched on leather cover over muslin form, shaped facial features including nose, chin and tiny mouth, defined neck, cut-out eye sockets with applied pupils, painted brows, black wiry hair, hand-stitched leather body. Condition: generally excellent. Comments: for the French market, late-19th century, the doll was designed to represent native women of the French Martinique Islands. An article about the dolls appeared in the French journal L'Illustration at that time. Value Points: from a collection of these dolls, each unique, shown in the Musee de la Poupee in Paris, this example wearing white cotton cutwork blouse, matching petticoat under blue silk skirt with demi-train, leather shoes, silk shawl and turban.