Beautiful French Bisque Smiling Poupee by Bru,Fully-Articulated Bru Wooden Body

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20" (51 cm.) Pale bisque swivel head on kid-edged bisque shoulder plate,perfectly-oval face and elongated throat,aquiline nose,dark eyeliner,delicately-painted lashes,widely-arched feathered brows,accented eye corners and nostrils,closed mouth with slightly-upturned lip corners lending a smiling expression,accented and shaded lips,pierced ears,blonde mohair wig over cork pate,all-wooden poupee body with shapely torso,ball- swivel waist,dowel-jointing at shoulders,elbows,wrists,hips,knees and ankles,separately-sculpted fingers. Condition: generally excellent. Marks: I (head and shoulders) Depose (high on crown rim). Comments: Leon Casimir Bru,the body was deposed by him in 1871 and in his advertisement of that year he claimed his poupee bodies to be "a company exclusive" for "adding to the usual joints [there] are articulations at the waist,the feet and hands which impart perfect grace to the doll"; the smiling face model was deposed the following year,and is one of the few poupees of this era for which an actual model still exists in the French archives. Value Points: superb example of the gently-smiling poupee,said to portray the Empress Eugenie,with outstanding quality of bisque and painting,deposed wooden body with extra deluxe articulations,and rare size.