Bisque Character Doll and Mechanical Cow in Traditional Alpine Costumel

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Bisque socket head,blue glass sleep eyes,painted curly lashes and brows,accented nostrils and eye corners,open mouth,stuck-out tongue,two porcelain teeth,brunette mohair bobbed wig,composition and wooden toddler body with very chubby torso and limbs. Condition: generally excellent,repair on one leg of cow. Marks: SQ (intertwined) 223 Germany. Comments: Schuetzmeister and Quendt,circa 1915. Value Points: the doll tends a 25" paper- mache cow with brushed flannel coat having painted brown spots,brown glass eyes,carved nose and horns,carved hooves,with tail and ears,and having "nodding" arrangement of head that is activated by keywind mechanism at side of torso. The boy wears his elaborate original woolen folklore costume of the Austrian Alpines of rich purple wool,with elaborate accessories including superb watch fob,and with a silk-ribbon trimmed walking stick to match the ribbon streamers worn by the cow; the cow is also decorated with a fanciful wire-framed coronet wreath and bell. History: The Alpine regions of Switzerland,Germany and Austria traditionally celebrated Spring with the annual "ascent to the mountains"; herds of cows and their shepherds single-filed the narrow mountain passes to reach the freshest grasses at the mountain peaks,where they feasted until August. At that time,they returned,single-file again,down the narrow passes to the villages below. The return to the villages ("descent from the mountains",known as "Almabtrieb" in Austria and "Alpabfahrten" in Switzerland) was celebrated by merry festivals,the shepherds dressed in colorful traditional folklore costumes,and the greatest milk-producing cow was bedecked with flowers and a crown. Historical accounts have poetically described the event as "cow bells across the meadows".