The Mysterious Lady Beneath the Hat
“People who keep stiff upper lips find that it’s damn hard to smile.” - Judith Guest (American novelist and screenwriter.)
The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 4th of October is “lips”. In this case, I have opted to photograph the father stylised cupid’s bow lips of one of my German half-dolls made by Dressel and Kister, who were famous for making high quality dolls. Her 1920s cupid’s bow lips are (or rather were) modish for the times she was made in the 1920s, yet they are at odds with the rest of her garb, which is very romanticised English late Seventeenth Century Nell Gwynne style, where she wears a floppy lilac coloured hat decorated with feathers and a blue blouse with lace at the collar and cuffs, rater reminiscent of some of the pre-war advertisements for Yardley’s English Lavender Soap. In spite of this contradiction, she is by far one of my finest painted half-dolls and was a recent acquisition from a small antiques and curios shop. She came home along with three other German half-dolls (as if I need any more) which I have added to my ever expanding collection. I am a hopelessly voracious collector of objects! I hope you like my choice for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!
The "half-doll" is a dainty porcelain or bisque figurine, fashionable in the early Twentieth Century with an upper body, head, arms, but no legs. These dolls were produced in the thousands at the height of their popularity by German factories such as Dressel and Kister, Heubach, Goebel and Kestner. Later they were produced in France, America and later still, in Japan. They commonly served as handles and toppers for fabric covers made for powder boxes on ladies’ dressing tables and small brushes, however they were also made for jewellery boxes, pincushions, tea cosies and other covers. In this case, my German half-doll with her stylised and romanticised Seventeenth Century style dress and picture hat, would have been made for a lady’s boudoir, probably as a powder bowl cover or even for a powder puff.
The Mysterious Lady Beneath the Hat
“People who keep stiff upper lips find that it’s damn hard to smile.” - Judith Guest (American novelist and screenwriter.)
The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 4th of October is “lips”. In this case, I have opted to photograph the father stylised cupid’s bow lips of one of my German half-dolls made by Dressel and Kister, who were famous for making high quality dolls. Her 1920s cupid’s bow lips are (or rather were) modish for the times she was made in the 1920s, yet they are at odds with the rest of her garb, which is very romanticised English late Seventeenth Century Nell Gwynne style, where she wears a floppy lilac coloured hat decorated with feathers and a blue blouse with lace at the collar and cuffs, rater reminiscent of some of the pre-war advertisements for Yardley’s English Lavender Soap. In spite of this contradiction, she is by far one of my finest painted half-dolls and was a recent acquisition from a small antiques and curios shop. She came home along with three other German half-dolls (as if I need any more) which I have added to my ever expanding collection. I am a hopelessly voracious collector of objects! I hope you like my choice for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!
The "half-doll" is a dainty porcelain or bisque figurine, fashionable in the early Twentieth Century with an upper body, head, arms, but no legs. These dolls were produced in the thousands at the height of their popularity by German factories such as Dressel and Kister, Heubach, Goebel and Kestner. Later they were produced in France, America and later still, in Japan. They commonly served as handles and toppers for fabric covers made for powder boxes on ladies’ dressing tables and small brushes, however they were also made for jewellery boxes, pincushions, tea cosies and other covers. In this case, my German half-doll with her stylised and romanticised Seventeenth Century style dress and picture hat, would have been made for a lady’s boudoir, probably as a powder bowl cover or even for a powder puff.