China doll

A china doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of glazed porcelain. The name comes from china being used to refer to the material porcelain. Colloquially the term china doll is used to refer only glazed porcelain dolls.

A typical china doll has a glazed porcelain head with painted molded hair and a body made of cloth or leather. They range in size from more than 30" (76 cm) tall to 1 inch (2.5 cm). Antique china dolls were predominantly produced in Germany, approximately between 1840 and 1940. Rare and elaborately decorated antique china dolls can have value on the collectors market. Beginning in the mid-20th-century reproductions of china dolls of various quality were produced in Japan and the United States.

Antique china dolls were predominantly produced in Germany, approximately between 1840 and 1940, with the peak in popularity between roughly 1840 and 1890. Unglazed bisque dolls became popular after 1850. Harper's Bazaar referred to china dolls as "old fashioned" in 1873, though they continued being made well into the early 20th century. China doll heads were produced in large quantities, counting in the millions. Some of the most prolific manufacturers were companies like Kestner; Conta & Boehme; Alt, Beck and Gottschalck; and Hertwig. Other German companies include Kling, Kister, KPM, and Meissen. China dolls were also produced in Czechoslovakia (Schlaggenwald), Denmark (Royal Copenhagen), France (Barrois, Jacob Petit), Poland (Tielsch), and Sweden (Rörstrand),. The earliest known were made by Kestner, KPM, Meissen and Royal Copenhagen.

The earliest china dolls often depicted grown women. From approximately the 1850s on, child-like china dolls became popular. Blonde-haired china dolls became more prevalent at the end of the 1800s. These dolls display contemporary hairstyles: sausage curls, ribbons or headbands.

A typical china doll has a shoulder head made of glazed whitish porcelain, with painted molded hair and facial features. The glaze gives the doll a characteristic glossy appearance. The head is typically attached to a body made of cloth or leather, sometimes with arms and legs made of porcelain. Some early china head dolls were placed on peg jointed wooden bodies. China doll parts were also sold for the customer to fashion a body and clothing. Some cloth bodied china dolls could be more than 30" (76 cm) tall, and others as small as 3" (7.5 cm). Some china dolls, like the "Frozen Charlotte dolls", were made entirely out of porcelain, with head and body made in one piece without any articulation. The Frozen Charlotte dolls range in size from 2.5 cm (1 inch) in height up to 46 cm (18 inches).

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