Postcard Image

Postcard Image
As the Victorian era passed into the Edwardian and Roaring Twenties, a market developed for bisque and china bawdy novelties and figurines of women in revealing outfits. Although now most of these figurines seem more coy and cute than ribald and risque, in their time they symbolized the casting off of the perceived restraints of the Victorian era.

These little lovelies included bathing beauties, who came clad in swimsuits of real lace or in stylish painted beach wear, as well as mermaids, harem ladies, and nudies, who were meant to wear nothing more than an engaging smile. Also produced were flippers, innocent appearing figurines who reveal a bawdy secret when flipped over, and squirters, figurines that were meant to squirt water out of an appropriate orifice.

Most were manufactured in Germany from the late 1800s through the 1930s, often showing remarkable artistry and imagination, with Japan entering the market during World War I.

Bewitching Bisque Witch


This engaging enchantress is pictured in my book, Bawdy Bisques and Naughty Novelties, as Illustration 29-002 on page 132. After the book was published, a German collector came across the same sultry sorceress on her original broom! The broom was a wooden dowel with white bisque bristles; there was a hole through the bristles to attach a piece of string. The string was fed through a matching hole in her flowing tresses and then tied to the front of her broom so when hung from a hook, she appears to fly on her broomstick. As my voluptuous belle had lost her broom, I made her a replacement. Incised only "1923," she is of excellent sharp bisque and is 7 inches tall. She is beautifully and realistically modeled. Her expression is lively, with a little wicked glint in her intaglio eyes and molded teeth visible between her full smiling lips.

For another broom-stick flying belle in bisque, check out the Sexy Witch blog (this is an adult-oriented website and some of the pictures may not be suitable for workplace viewing or for children).

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