$800
Sold
sold
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Description
22" (56 cm.) and 20". Each is a stockinette doll with firmly-
pressed and oil-painted facial features,light brown impasto-
painted hair,painted blue or brown eyes with white accent dots,red
upper eyeliner,painted lashes,accented nostrils,closed
mouth,stitch jointing at shoulders,elbows,hips and knees,sateen
torso cover,oil-painted lower arms and legs,antique costume.
Condition: very good/excellent with some play wear,original
painted finish. Comments: American,Martha Chase,circa 1910,the
brown-eyed doll has hand-lettered inscription on her torso
"Rosalind,given to Helena Modjeska Chase by Madame Helena
Modjeska". Helen Modjeska was a noted Polish actress of the mid-
19th century,immigrating to California in 1876 with her husband
with the aim of abandoning the theatre and forming a Utopian
colony near Anaheim in the manner of the New England Brooks Farm.
The colony was a failure but the actress lived out her life in
California,dying in Newport Beach in 1909. The significance of the
doll's notation remains an intriguing mystery. Value Points:
charming pair of brother/sister dolls with antique costumes,one
with provenance.