Important Early English Wooden Doll with Her Trousseau

Live Auction

29" (74 cm.) All-wooden doll with one-piece head and torso, elongated face with high domed forehead and carved fullness to the shaped oval cheeks, defined chin, enamel inset eyes in defined sockets, lightly-painted lashes, dot-accented brows, pointy-shaped nose, closed mouth with proper expression of lips, brunette mohair wig in long curls, shapely torso with defined bosom, tiny waist, and small yet flared hips, wooden arms with string-jointing at shoulders and elbows, wooden legs with dowel-jointing at hips and knees. Condition: generally excellent, some light paint wear, original finish with very delicate light touch up on nose. Comments: English, circa 1740, the doll was the previous property of the Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art and featured in the book The Heart of the Tree, Early Wooden Dolls to the 1850s by Rosalie Whyel and Jill Gorman. Value Points: compelling expression on the important early doll who is enhanced by a remarkable trousseau comprising 12 gowns, mostly of the mid-1700s era highlighted by a textured gold silk robe a la francaise, both her regal size, unique sculpting and extensive trousseau an indication that she was originally commissioned for an aristocratic estate.