397 - Girl doll with composition head, sleeping eyes and open mouth, in white embroidered dress, 20th c.

Girl doll with composition head, sleeping eyes and open mouth, in white embroidered dress, 20th c. Composition, textile, girl doll, unmarked, 20th century, head with blue sleeping eyes, eyelashes and painted eyebrows, red cheeks, open mouth with two teeth and red lips, light brown wig, white dress with openwork floral embroidery, lace insert and puff sleeves, petticoat, tights and white lace-up shoes, played-with condition commensurate with age, foot and little finger chipped, partially slight paint losses, one flower on the right shoe missing, L. 45 cm. In the 19th and 20th centuries Sonneberg in the Thuringian Forest was the centre of European doll and toy production; the doll industry developed from the woodcarving of the region. The introduction of papier-mâché in the early 19th century allowed doll heads to be made in moulds and thus mass-produced. Until circa 1960 the Thuringian doll industry used composition, papier-mâché, celluloid and porcelain for doll heads, thereafter almost exclusively plastic.