21" (53 cm.) Bisque socket head with heart-shaped slender face portraying an adult lady, brown glass sleep eyes, dark eyeliner, painted curly lashes, short feathered brows, accented eye corners, aquiline nose with accented nostrils, closed mouth with extended accent line between the perfectly-formed lips, brunette mohair wig, composition and wooden fully-jointed lady body with shapely bosom and waist, elongated limbs. Condition: generally excellent. Marks: 213 B&D 3 Ltd. Germany. Comments: Bawo and Dotter, an exclusive commission doll by the 19th-century New York import firm who maintained porcelain works in both Bavaria and Limoges, France as early as 1864, although it was not until 1906 that they created a department devoted exclusively to dolls, and in 1907 advertised "new model heads with lifelike expressions", presumably their art character line, of which this doll is an example. The luxury quality of their dolls did not meet success in a mass market, and few examples of the B&D art character dolls exist today. Value Points: most sublime expression of serenity with finest quality of bisque and painting, especially fine detail about the lips, original body and body finish, and wearing fine antique costume.
Stuart's Take
The Bawo and Dotter, besides having a unique style and history as to their making (see more in the comments above), ranks as one of the rarest and most sought after character dolls of the early 20th Century. To put into perspective, at Theriault's we have only encountered a few models over the years with this standing out as one of the most dramatic and beautiful examples found. Truly, an art doll in every manner. It's always interesting to me from a market perspective that because so little is known about B&D in general collecting circles they tend to go a bit under the radar when, in fact, they could easily stand up to any major art doll by Kammer and Reinhardt or Simon and Halbig. Be sure to look at the second photo to see the entire look of this example including a very distinctive body style.
Gold Horse Listing