Bisque-headed doll
Category
Dolls
Date
circa 1880
Materials
Bisque-headed doll.
Measurements
299 mm (height)
Collection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 660757
Summary
A bisque-headed doll dating from circa 1880. The doll's bisque shoulder-head has become detached from the body. The doll has blue glass eyes, painted facial details and pierced ears. She has blonde hair in long ringlets, made of mohair. The doll's original wig had been eaten away by moths, 'as the doll was put in the box room, unprotected, when I went to school', so the donor replaced it with one bought in Toronto, Canada in c.1970. The doll has a cloth body stuffed with sawdust. The top of the body is covered in old dried glue which the bisque torso was originally stuck to. She has bisque forearms and hands, parian lower legs and black painted heeled boots. The doll is wearing a pink dress, possibly made from satin, with a satin and white lace bodice partially covered with pink satin forming a V shape. The short sleeves have lace cuffs which are gathered at the elbow. The dress was made by the donor in the 1920's, when aged about 12 or 13. The doll's undergarments consist of a cream cotton petticoat with a double trim of lace at bottom edge and three pin tucks above, a cream flannel petticoat with embroidered scalloped edge and cream cotton drawers with a lace trim. The underclothes had been made by the donor's mother when she was a child. The doll also wears a straw bonnet lined with pink satin and trimmed with a pink satin ribbon and bows, and lace. The donor lined the bonnet, which her mother had kept from her own childhood. A pink satin ribbon on the bonnet ties in a bow under her chin.