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Early Painted Eye Wooden Doll
English Circa 1800
These small dolls were hand made, carved from old fruit woods, gessoed and individualy hand painted. Made on large estate properties throughout Great Britain for wealthy and lucky children to hold and admire. Sometimes a few can have a similiar look about them and I feel this is because the Carpenter living on the vast estate found he made a good trade selling to passing trade or a market fairs, especialy when a seamstress in the local area dressed the dolls and cobblers shoed them.
The only other dolls made in Great Britain at the time would be made in wax. You can find wooden dolls in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
This Doll has a real hair wig, painted quirky features, tiny waist, cloth upper arms and carved lower wooden hands with individual fingers, all intact. She is jointed at the hips and knees which makes her very rare and especially lovely as you can sit and pose her. This size generally comes with straight legs and wider waists, with less work, so I date this earlier as a lot of care went into her making.
Her clothes are in Josephine style and I beleive they are in part original to the doll.
Please ask for price
(She has a little restoration under her chin)