Rare and Important French Wooden Court Doll Portraying Marie Antoinette

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14" (36 cm.) One-piece carved wooden head and torso portraying adult woman with elaborately arranged coiffure, carved facial features, painted large blue eyes in sculpted eye sockets, arched brows, aquiline nose, closed mouth with well-shaped lips, sculpted ears, adult female modeled body with highly detailing sculpting of female elements, hinge jointed one-piece legs, painted red shoes, muslin upper arms, wooden forearms and sculpted fingers, antique silk costume with elaborate trim. Condition: generally excellent. Comments: French, circa 1780, from a series of one-of-a-kind dolls representing members of the French court of Louis XVI; this model, representing Marie Antoinette, is documented in a landmark research work "Les Poupees Royales de la Cour de Louis XVI" by Francois Theimer; four pages are dedicated to the doll with historical photographs. Value Points: very important historical doll with outstanding detail of hair carving, the doll was previously in the important collections of Gladys Hilsdorf and Mildred Seeley before its acquisition by Geri Baker. The doll appears on the cover of The Encyclopedia of French Dolls.