$21,000
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Description
18" (46 cm.) Pressed bisque socket head with very plump cheeks and throat, small blue glass inset eyes with darker blue rims, thick dark eyeliner, painted lashes, mauve-blushed eyeshadow, brushstroked and feathered brows, accented nostrils, closed mouth with outlined lips, pierced ears, brunette human hair wig over cork pate, gutta percha body with dowel-jointing at shoulders, elbows, hips and knees, swivel wrists. Condition: generally excellent, bisque is flawless, body has some typical gutta percha restoration but is quite sturdy. Comments: Huret, late 1870s, this particular gutta-percha-bodied bebe presumes a very specific moment of history, positioned between the end of Huret's gutta percha-bodied poupee (about 1875/1880) and the beginning of Huret's wooden-bodied bebe (about 1880). It may rightly be considered the very first of the Huret bebes, and it is not likely to have been made for more than one or two years in extremely limited numbers; only one or two other examples are known to exist. Its specific size is notable: although the doll is the exact height (18") of the earlier Huret poupee, its proportions are that of a child (9 1/2" head circumference,10" waist, 12" hips, and with legs that are scaled to the size of the torso exactly like a child's body would be). Value Points: extremely rare bebe, her rarity rivaled by beautifully modeled distinctive features, very fine quality of bisque and painting, original body, and wearing early costume which may be original.