Artist/Maker Unidentified maker

Shoulder head doll

1860-1880

Place made, probablyGermany, Europe

Bisque, paint, gilding, glaze

Overall: 6 1/2 x 5 x 3 in. (16.5 x 12.7 x 7.6 cm)

Purchased from Elie Nadelman

1937.1234

This object was once part of the folk art collection of Elie Nadelman (1882-1946), the avant-garde sculptor. From 1924 to 1934, Nadelman's collection was displayed in his Museum of Folk Arts, located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The Historical Society purchased Nadelman's entire collection in 1937. This bisque shoulder head doll, depicting a dapper young man is a product of the German toy industry. During the 1830s, doll heads of papier-mâché began to be supplanted by heads made of porcelain, many of them made by factories in Thuringia. The heads, typically with painted blue eyes, were stitched to bodies made of leather or sold loose to be made up at home. This shoulder head has three piercings -- apparently never used--for attachment to a body. Boy dolls in porcelain gained in popularity toward the end of the nineteenth century.

DescriptionBisque shoulder head with light brown molded hair with wind-swept curls at front, blue painted eyes, closed mouth, and pink tinted cheeks; shoulder plate molded as blouse with gilded and painted collar and ribbon tied in bow; three sew holes in front and back of shoulder plate.

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