AADELA ART DOLL

About the Dolls

A short guide for anyone new to porcelain dolls.

01

Original Antique

Dolls more than a hundred years old, made in the doll factories of Germany and France between the 1880s and the 1910s. The maker's mark, mold number and size number are incised on the back of the neck.

02

Antique Reproduction

Dolls made by a present-day artist from a mold taken from an antique original. The face is the same, but the doll comes out slightly smaller after firing, and the artist's initials and the year are incised on the back of the head. Reproductions bring masterpieces that are too rare to see in person within reach.

03

Modern Artist Doll

Dolls made from an original sculpted by a contemporary artist. They carry the natural expression and proportions of a real person and the taste of today, and the sculptor and the maker who completed the doll are often different people.

Terms you will meet

Bisque
Porcelain fired without a glaze; its matte surface has the texture of skin.
Mold
The plaster form in which heads and limbs are cast. A mold number identifies the face; it is not a year.
DEP
Short for the French 'Depose' or the German 'Deponirt': a registered design.
Sleep eyes
Glass eyes that close when the doll is laid down and open when she is stood up, moved by a weight inside the head.
Composition body
An antique body made of pressed paper, sawdust and glue. Modern reproductions use a body cast in a mold from a man-made material, which D.A.G accepts in its antique-reproduction categories.
Shoulder head / socket head
A head modeled down to the shoulders sits on a cloth or kid body; a head ending at the neck fits into a jointed body.
Dolly face / character doll
The 'dolly face' is the idealized pretty child; the character doll, from 1909, has a natural expression modeled on a real child.
Parian / china doll
German dolls of the 1860s-1880s in matte bisque, untinted or only very lightly tinted, with the hair modeled in the porcelain; the same form with a shiny glaze is a china doll.
D.A.G
The Doll Artisan Guild, an international organization of porcelain dollmakers founded in 1977, running seminars, certification and competitions.
Lady doll / bebe
A doll with an adult woman's figure is a lady (fashion) doll or poupee; a French doll with a child's face is a bebe.

Sources

The details of each doll come from the owner's records, the notes supplied by the makers (Lynn Harrison and others) and the adela_artdoll posts. The background sections draw on the following published sources.

    German antique makers

    • Doll Reference (dollreference.com): Armand Marseille, Simon & Halbig, Kammer & Reinhardt, C.M. Bergmann, Schoenau & Hoffmeister, Cuno & Otto Dressel, Edmund Ulrich Steiner, DEP
    • Wikipedia: Armand Marseille, Simon & Halbig, Bisque doll, Ball-jointed doll, Composition doll
    • WorthPoint Dictionary: Armand Marseille, Simon & Halbig, Kammer & Reinhardt, Schoenau & Hoffmeister, Cuno & Otto Dressel
    • Antique Doll Journey (antiquedolljourney.com): C.M. Bergmann, Cuno & Otto Dressel, Edmund Ulrich Steiner
    • sammeln-sammler.de: Fa. Kammer & Reinhardt / Illinois State Museum: Waltershausen doll makers
    • Abbingdon Auctions: My Sweet Darling, Mein Liebling / The Strong Museum of Play: The Eyes Have It (sleep eyes)
    • DOLLS Magazine: Antique Q&A, Dolly face dolls

    French antique makers and molds

    • Wikipedia: Jumeau, Pierre-Francois Jumeau, SFBJ, Parian doll, Mildred Seeley
    • Land of Oz Dolls (landofozdolls.net): House of Bru, Jumeau / dailydoll.news: Casimir Bru
    • Theriault's (theriaults.com): auction records for Bru Jne, E.J. Jumeau, Bebe Triste, SFBJ 301
    • Barry Art Museum: Long-face Bebe (so-called Triste) / The Strong (Google Arts & Culture): Is that a Jumeau?
    • WorthPoint Dictionary: Bru Jne & Cie, SFBJ, Alt Beck & Gottschalck / Doll Kingdom: Hair styles in bisque dolls

    Seeley's, D.A.G and reproduction dollmaking

    • Doll Artisan Guild (dollsbeautiful.com): Competition, Seminars, Certified Doll Artisan, Gallery of Stars (Femmy Toele)
    • The Daily Star (Oneonta): Porcelain plant carries on work in Oneonta / AllOtsego: Rolf Ericson obituary
    • Seeley's mold case inventory (S628 Marie Louise and others) / UFDC: World Doll Day history
    • Virginia LaVorgna (virginialavorgna.com): About us / Dollspart: Bob Severns
    • Quintessential Antique Dolls (blog): Reproduction dolls / Brenda Mize Dolls: Creation process

    Modern artists and sculpts

    • DOLLS Magazine, NIADA, Expressions Doll Molds (expressionsdolls.com), Jones Funeral Home obituary: Dianna Effner
    • WorthPoint, Lydia's Doll Making Supplies, JW Porcelain Creations: Rose Pinkul Originals mold lists
    • dollsyourway.com (Harte, Estelle catalog pages), Time on Your Hands Crafters: The Story of Estelle (Heather Suckling)
    • WorthPoint, dollsyourway.com: Bunny Morris & Paul Jackson, Vicki Hamilton (Vicki's Original Designs) molds
    • Wikipedia: Liberace, The King and I (1956 film) / Kinescope Film, IMDb: Look Me Over - Liberace (2021)