Antique English Poured Wax Doll 22 Inches, Lovely Face, C1860 - 70
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:18944903 | Material: Wax |
| Features: Antique | Doll Size: 22 in. |
| Brand: Montanari | Era/Year: 1800s |
| Doll Gender: Girl Doll | EAN: Does not apply |
*** ALL 12 PHOTOS WILL BE UPLOADED TOMORROW. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE ***
This beautiful 22 inch wax doll is brimming with the personality, quality and style of the good old-fashioned earlier English poured waxes. She has a down-turned Montanari type mouth which somehow still gives her face the impression of a gentle smile which I have always loved, from the first moment I saw her. She has large almond-shaped blue glass eyes which dominate her face. She is... radiant and gentle and has a really wonderful face which has always been very distinctive and unique in my collection.
Dating from around c1860 - 1870, I bought her some years ago (for quite a lot more than my starting price, actually) from a very well loved and respected dealer in London who is now sadly no longer with us. She was a great lover of wax dolls and cherished their history just as I do, so it is unsurprising that she was never particularly willing to sell this lovely girl, as I am not either, but she knew I would deeply appreciate her doll. To see her in real life is to want her - she has quite a captivating spirit.
Her period antique costume makes a change from the pretty whitework dresses they often wear and is richly coloured including a lined deep ruby red velvet plush cape and a most beautiful ladies curtain bonnet in cream silk with pleated embellishments and old trims including a deep red bow to match her cape.
Her Victorian wax doll dress is a dropped-neck dress in a beautiful heavy pink cotton fabric with red print and rick-rack braid which, whilst so popular in the 1970's, was actually in use as far back as the 1860s and 1870's, sometimes then known as 'waved braid' or 'snake braid'. It is in excellent condition. At the neck of her dress is a tiny early Victorian sterling silver and paste brooch. Some of the little paste gems have darkened with age, but this miniature pin is a very sweet, early adornment.
Her antique underthings comprise a hand-stitched fine cotton chemise with lace trim, cotton pantaloons with lace trim and a half slip.
She is on her original hand-stitched horsehair-stuffed cloth body with poured wax lower limbs. She has no fingers or toes missing. She has no breaks to her wax parts, but has a line to the back centre of her shoulder-plate. It is not a crack and it leads to no-where, but I must mention it for the sake of accuracy. Her hair is blonde mohair very finely inserted and centre-parted as you can see from the photos. It is a little sparse at the back beneath her bonnet but not unattractively so, in my opinion.
One thing about most of my own wax dolls is that they are usually distinctive in some way, meaning that you rarely come across one similar enough to think 'I already have one like that'. I imagine that will be the case here too. I'm willing her to find a very special home and custodian and she truly needs and deserves it.
Worldwide shipping will be 65 gbp - she is large and will need to be sent securely and safely by Global Priority. Shipping in mainland UK will be 15 gbp.
Thank you for visiting her today!
This beautiful 22 inch wax doll is brimming with the personality, quality and style of the good old-fashioned earlier English poured waxes. She has a down-turned Montanari type mouth which somehow still gives her face the impression of a gentle smile which I have always loved, from the first moment I saw her. She has large almond-shaped blue glass eyes which dominate her face. She is... radiant and gentle and has a really wonderful face which has always been very distinctive and unique in my collection.
Dating from around c1860 - 1870, I bought her some years ago (for quite a lot more than my starting price, actually) from a very well loved and respected dealer in London who is now sadly no longer with us. She was a great lover of wax dolls and cherished their history just as I do, so it is unsurprising that she was never particularly willing to sell this lovely girl, as I am not either, but she knew I would deeply appreciate her doll. To see her in real life is to want her - she has quite a captivating spirit.
Her period antique costume makes a change from the pretty whitework dresses they often wear and is richly coloured including a lined deep ruby red velvet plush cape and a most beautiful ladies curtain bonnet in cream silk with pleated embellishments and old trims including a deep red bow to match her cape.
Her Victorian wax doll dress is a dropped-neck dress in a beautiful heavy pink cotton fabric with red print and rick-rack braid which, whilst so popular in the 1970's, was actually in use as far back as the 1860s and 1870's, sometimes then known as 'waved braid' or 'snake braid'. It is in excellent condition. At the neck of her dress is a tiny early Victorian sterling silver and paste brooch. Some of the little paste gems have darkened with age, but this miniature pin is a very sweet, early adornment.
Her antique underthings comprise a hand-stitched fine cotton chemise with lace trim, cotton pantaloons with lace trim and a half slip.
She is on her original hand-stitched horsehair-stuffed cloth body with poured wax lower limbs. She has no fingers or toes missing. She has no breaks to her wax parts, but has a line to the back centre of her shoulder-plate. It is not a crack and it leads to no-where, but I must mention it for the sake of accuracy. Her hair is blonde mohair very finely inserted and centre-parted as you can see from the photos. It is a little sparse at the back beneath her bonnet but not unattractively so, in my opinion.
One thing about most of my own wax dolls is that they are usually distinctive in some way, meaning that you rarely come across one similar enough to think 'I already have one like that'. I imagine that will be the case here too. I'm willing her to find a very special home and custodian and she truly needs and deserves it.
Worldwide shipping will be 65 gbp - she is large and will need to be sent securely and safely by Global Priority. Shipping in mainland UK will be 15 gbp.
Thank you for visiting her today!
