Onsite
Highest Bidder
$70,000
Sold
sold
Click image to enlarge
- Estimate
- $18,000 / $22,000
Description
9" (23 cm.) All wooden doll with one-piece head and torso, oval-shaped face, rounded head, shapely torso with tiny waist, painted large black eyes, two white eye dots on each eye, accented nostrils, closed mouth, blush spots on cheeks, tacked-on wig on muslin form, cloth upper arms, wooden lower arms, mortise and tenon jointed legs. Condition: very good, some fingers broken. Comments: English, late 1600s. Value Points: the very dear early doll in rare tiny size is wearing original long sacque-back gold silk dress, petticoats, red kidskin slippers, tulle wrapped cap. The doll is featured in the book, The Heart of the Tree, by Rosalie Whyel and Jill Gorman, pp. 14/15.
Stuart's Take
The great American collector, Catherine Peterson, once wrote about the "weight of a doll." Not its actual weight, but how it feels in your hand. How it emanates a presence by its combined weight, size and face. I got this right away and understood how she was explaining an almost existential experience. Some dolls, especially smaller ones, just have this feel to them that is unique. When I first took this particular English wood in my hands while working on the Whyel collection, I felt it. Her weight is perfect. She has the most beautiful energy.