An Extraordinary 18th Century French Wax Doll with Superb Original Costume and Coiffure

Live Auction

23 (58 cm.) Poured wax head with portrait-like aristocratic features and pose,slender oval face with pronounced lower chin,aquiline-shaped nose,blue enamel eyes with heavy eyelids,painted eyeliner and brows,closed mouth with painted and glazed lips,tacked on blonde wig of fine soft hemp or silk,with attached waist-length braids at the back with interwoven brown cord for decoration. Her body is slender armature wrapped with homespun linen and covered with white muslin,a protruding hemp-wrapped dowel at the neck serves to attach the head,her hands are simplistic hand-stitched glove-style,and her feet are wooden shoe-molds. The doll is wearing her multi-layered original costume comprising a homespun chemise,homespun dickey with ink-lettered Mme Durr-Arnold,stockings,quilt-patterned silk petticoat,modified panier,fabric-hand-stitched shoes with silk bows and wooden heels that are made to exactly fit the wooden feet,two-piece silk gown with intricately constructed bodice,and unusual ribbon-trimmed sleeves,velvet throat band,black beaded coiffe,a bec interwoven into coiffure and crowned with an elaborate gilded and pearl coronet that matches her elaborate gilded necklace. Condition: generally excellent,typical wax rubs,body and costume are impeccably preserved. Comments: French,late 18th century,the poup?e was discovered in a chateau near Strasbourg,France,the site at which Maria Antoinette entered France from her native Austria to become Queen; the costume is of her era,and the doll bears an uncanny resemblance to the young Queen suggesting it was,at the least,inspired by the event. The ink-lettered name Mme Durr-Arnold is a mystery. Value Points: an extraordinary doll with regal presence,superb portraiture,and outstanding original costume,wig,coiffe and shoes.