My***24
Highest Bidder
$17,000
Sold
sold
Click image to enlarge
- Estimate
- $8,000 / $12,000
Description
21" (53 cm.) and 22". Each is all carved wood with one-piece head and torso, inset glass eyes, refined expression with original painted complexion and features, tenon-jointing of shoulders, elbows, hips and knees; the man with sculpted and painted short brown hair with groove-defined curls; and the woman with unusual brunette hair inserted into scalp in the manner of the 1880-era Joseph Kubelka (Austrian) artist, and with added painted tendrils of curls around the forehead; each doll is well-detailed vintage costumes. Condition: generally excellent, few minor rubs on original finish. Comments: maker uncertain, although the hair style of the woman is identical to that deposed by Joseph Kubelka in 1884, the sculpted hair style of the gentleman appears later suggesting the woman's hair construction may be based on the 1909 similar hair system registered by Theodor Friedman in 1909. Although the maker of the dolls remains in discussion, their personal history is well-traced. The dolls were acquired in Paris in 1991 by antiquarian Harriet Miller of Virginia, then resided in Gay's Doll House Museum in Maggie, North Carolina until their acquisition by Mildred Seeley who wrote about the dolls in her book, Judging Dolls, and finally by Rosalie Whyel where, as she noted in her book The Rose Unfolds, page 16, they have "grandly resided...important doll history hidden - at least for now - behind their enigmatic smiles".
Stuart's Take
The name Kubelka is one of the most discussed and often misunderstood associations in doll history. Much of course because collector's tend to associate the name to the earlier fashion doll with inserted hair. Yes, Joseph Kubelka patented that hair, but years later, long after the Fashion doll was offered. Interestingly enough, it has been documented as well that some years after his patent he ran a small doll shop in Vienna in the late 1800's.