Extremely Rare French Bisque Bebe with Gutta-Percha Body and Bisque Hands by Huret

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18" (46 cm.) Very pale pressed bisque socket head with dainty features centered in the plump rounded face with pronounced double chin,light bulb-shaped neck,ice-blue enamel glass inset eyes with spiral threading,delicately feathered brown lashes and brows,accented eye corners,shaded nostrils,closed mouth with shaded and outlined lips,blonde mohair wig over cork pate,gutta percha bebe body based upon the Huret deposed body design,dowel- articulation at the shoulders,elbows,hips and knee joints,bisque hands with separately defined fingers and knuckles. Condition: generally excellent,some typical restoration to body joints,bisque head and hands perfect. Marks: Huret 54 Boulv. Haussman Paris (kid torso band). Comments: Huret,circa late 1870s,this particular gutta-percha-bodied bebe presumes a very specific moment of history,positioned between the end of Huret's gutta percha-bodied poupee (about 1875/1880) and the beginning of Huret's wooden-bodied bebe (about 1880). It may rightly be considered the very first of the Huret bebes,and it is not likely to have been made for more than one or two years in extremely limited numbers; only one or two other examples are known to exist. Its specific size is notable: although the doll is the exact height (18",45 cm) of the earlier Huret poupee,its proportions are that of a child (9 1/2" head circumference,10" waist,12" hips,and legs are torso scaled to match at 7 1/2" each exactly like a child's body would be). Even the superb bisque hands were sculpted with the plump roundedness of a child's hand. Value Points: the rarity of the doll,its uniquely sculpted face,hands and body,is enhanced by its great beauty and quality of bisque and painting. The doll wears her original purple velvet and silk twill costume,muslin undergarments with lace trim,stockings,bonnet and original boots stamped "Huret a Paris",and is preserved in an early box that is likely Huret original. Provenance: the bebe was first offered by Theriault's from its original French family estate in 1996 when it was acquired by noted collector Elaine Shallenberger,and was later sold at the Shallenberger estate auction in 1999. It has been in its present owner's collection since that time. The actual doll is photographed in The Encyclopedia of French Dolls by Theimer and The Huret Book by Theimer.