Extremely Rare Earliest Period German Cloth Doll by Kathe Kruse

Live Auction

17" (43 cm.) All cloth doll with hard-pressed and painted facial features and hair,separate face mask (whose seam runs over the top of the head,behind the ears and under the chin),three back of head seams and two chin seams,with press-sculpted ears,small painted blue eyes with black upper eyeliner,flattened seamless nose,small closed mouth,very plump body,stitch- jointed arms,elbow seam,stitching around the wrists,frog hands with short fingers,five-seam very plump legs with disc-jointed hips,rounded feet,sewn ankles,wearing original three-piece undergarment set. Condition: structurally excellent,finish is original and un-restored albeit scuffed. Comments: very earliest period Kathe Kruse; various authorities differ on whether this is an early hand-made model by Kathe Kruse herself,or the extremely rare variant (non-ball- jointed leg) experimental model of Kammer and Reinhardt for Kruse. In either case,the production of this rare doll cannot be later than the final months of 1911. Few other examples of the doll are known to exist. Value Points: an extraordinary and important doll in the chronology of the German character doll and specifically the Kathe Kruse doll; the doll,in addition,has great character and expression,the original finish having a most appealing loved patina.