$350
Sold
sold
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Description
12" (30 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, painted eyes and brows, black wiry hair, hand-stitched leather body with modeled bosom. 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 larger example wearing an embroidered white cotton chemise, blue silk skirt with demi-train, elaborate undergarments including lace stockings and sewn-on slippers, silk turban with gold beading and matching shawl.