Ch*****02
Highest Bidder
$22,000
Sold
sold
Click image to enlarge
- Estimate
- $3,000 / $4,000
Description
20" (51 cm.) One-piece carved wooden head and torso, elongated throat, Empire-era high waisted torso, peg-wooden jointing at shoulders, elbows, hips and knees, painted red shoes, carved delineation of painted black hair with wispy curls around the forehead and decorative carved wooden black-edged orange comb at crown, sculpted ears, dainty pointed chin, painted brown eyes, single stroke brows, tiny closed mouth, blushed cheeks, wearing original high-waist brown cotton print dress with full upper sleeves, undergarments, and brown apron. Condition: original finish with typical craquelure. Comments: Germany, early 1800s. Value Points: especially fine detail of facial and hair carving, original early costume, the doll is carrying a flat-backed woven basket ("hotte") with early miniature wooden Grodnertal dolls. The doll is featured in the book, The Heart of the Tree, by Rosalie Whyel and Jill Gorman, page 80.
Florence's Take
This doll reminds me of one of my 1800s women heroes. Her name was Ernestine Brand (1825-1901), and for more than 50 years she trudged the mountains from Schalkau to Sonneberg carrying dolls in the heavy hotte strapped to her back, and then returning home with the pay to the workers. She died on one such trek, found in a roadside ditch, the basket of dolls on her back. She had always said "Whenever I feel unable to deliver, I want my life to come to an end". It was also said that she never refused "something that gave force to her heart in the form of a glass of beer". Kudos, Ernestine, well done!