No. 11

P.D. Bebe (Petit & Dumoutier)

French Antique Reproduction

Details

Original

Petit & Dumoutier 'P.D.' bebe (Paris, 1878-1890)

Artist

Anna Miller

Mold

Virginia LaVorgna (probably her P&D mold 'Coco')

About this doll

A doll in a cream lace dress with a matching lace bonnet and small flowers. Brown hair, a slightly open mouth and rosy cheeks give her the sweet look typical of a French bebe.

The porcelain artist Anna Miller made this reproduction of a bebe by Petit & Dumoutier of Paris. Originals are incised on the back of the head with a size number between P and D, such as 'P 3 D'.

Background

Petit & Dumoutier was a small Paris firm active from 1878 to 1890 whose heads came from Francois Gaultier. Its dolls are known for plump, round faces with closely set eyes and, above all, for the metal hands fitted to their composition-and-wood jointed bodies. Few were made, so originals are rare; a 39 cm example sold at auction in Paris for several thousand euros.

A reproduction doll is made by pouring porcelain slip into a plaster mold taken from an antique head, firing it at more than 1,200 degrees Celsius, and then painting it with china paints and refiring several times. Because porcelain shrinks in the kiln, a reproduction is slightly smaller than its original. The artist incises her initials and the year on the back of the head before firing, so that the doll can always be told from an antique.

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