Clowning Around

Figural powder dishes featuring a Pierrot hoisting a lovely lass onto his back or shoulders while she displays a length of lithe leg were a popular theme in the 1920s, as demonstrated by examples that have previously appeared on this blog. The Pierrot served as the base for the shallow powder dish or bowl, while a half doll sat in the dish on a swansdown puff, which doubled as her feather tutu. This example is a bit naughtier, as Columbine, or at least a belle dressed for a carnival ball, suggestively straddles Pierrot's shoulders, a shapely leg dangling on each side of his face. 

The dish alone is about 4 inches tall, while the full assembly is around 7 inches. Underneath the base is incised with the crowned "S" of the Sitzendorf Porcelain Factory and "26021." The half doll is unmarked. The pretty miss has lost her original swansdown puff, but I created a display stand that replicates the look of the missing fluffy puff.

In the Black

This blog has featured a number of bronze bathing beauties and naughty novelties from Austria, specifically Vienna, which, beginning in the mid-19th century, became the center for foundries producing finely crafted artistic bronzes to adorn the homes of those wishing to subtly display their taste and wealth. In 1898, Carl Hagenauer opened one such foundry that would later become Werkstätte Hagenauer Wien. His son, Karl, joined the business in 1919 as a designer, influenced by the Vienna Secession, the country's version of the art nouveau movement. His stylized and streamlined designs in bronze and brass were extremely popular, shaping public taste. Just after WWII, Karl introduced a new line of miniature brass pieces that had been oxidized to deep black, then strategically polished so that selected golden highlights shown through. These sleek statuettes with their striking contracts of black and gold were a perfect fit for the mid-century modern design movement, characterized by an emphasis on simplicity and clean, uncluttered silhouettes. The oxidation technique was quickly adopted by other Austrian artists, such as Robert Rohac and Walter Bosse, and soon was copied by manufacturers worldwide. These blackened brass pieces were made in a wide variety of subjects, from whimsical animals to exotic images, such as highly stylized African figures. This lithe lady admiring herself in a mirror is just two inches high and is unmarked. 

How Articulate!

This articulated mermaid charm or pendant can clearly express her thoughts or feelings with a wave of her intricately jointed tail. Just 1.5 inches, this undulating undine carries no assay mark. She joins my small collection of bathing beauty baubles. 

 

Cool Kutani Cat

A new addition to my maneki neko page is this handsome black cat attributed to the Kutani kilns of Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture.

Fluffy Ruffles

 This pretty powderpuff lass is clad only in her ruffled collar and her fluffy marabou feather skirt. She comes in what appears to be the bottom of her original powderbox, as the ribbons around her waist perfectly match the colors of the box. 

She appears to have been captured mid-laugh. Perhaps those swansdown feathers tickle? This half-doll is unusual for the porcelain pom-pom adorning her gold cap and her tinted nipples, the latter an anatomical detail generally absent in the great majority of half dolls and bathing beauties. Her puff is pristine, suggesting that it was never used.

A close up shows the pom-pom, which appears to have been made of string dipped in porcelain; when the piece was fired, the threads would burn away, leaving only the porcelain shell. Her facial painting is also unusual, with amber eyes shaded gray underneath. 

Fluffy Ruffles was in fact the name of an eponymous young comic-strip heroine. Published in 1907 in the "New York Herald," the strip followed attempts by Fluffy Ruffles to obtain gainful employment. Ms. Ruffles was a wealthy young woman of considerable charm and beauty who had lost her inheritance. Left with little more than her wardrobe of fashionable frocks, Ms. Ruffles braves the world of the "working girl" with perseverance and pluck, entering a variety of careers open to young women at the time, such as window dresser, teacher, newspaper columnist, or waitress. Unfortunately, her employment was often impeded by men's unwanted romantic overturns, generally resulting in the loss of her job. Ms. Ruffles became a symbol of the modern independent and resilient young woman; her popularity resulted in a wide variety of merchandise, from paper dolls and candy to frocks and hats, carrying the Fluffy Ruffles name, and even engendered a Broadway musical. By 1908, Ms. Ruffles had been restored to her fortune, using her new wealth to travel the world to do good and help the unfortunate, with the same ingenuity and resolution she had shown in her job hunts. The comic ran until 1909. 

Ivory Erotica

Following up on my previous post featuring an item of ivory erotica from Japan, I thought I would post this meditative female nude. Also of ivory, she is much more contemporary and, while nicely carved, does not match the quality and skill of the earlier item. Just 2 inches tall, the ivory Schreger lines are clearly visible along her smooth curves. Although she resembles a Japanese netsuke, my suspicion is that she was actually carved in China and created for the European tourist trade like the so-called doctor's dolls. In 1988, I went on a tour sponsored by the American Bar Association of China and Hong Kong and there I saw shop windows crammed with innumerable ivory netsuke and similar carvings, often of a naughty nature. The netsuke were a unique Japanese solution to the problem that Japanese kimonos lacked pockets. Japanese men would carry personal items in punches or boxes suspended on a cord strung through the obi (sash) and the netsuke was strung on one end of the cord to keep the cord from slipping out. When China opened to tourism following President Richard Nixon's visit in 1972, Chinese entrepreneurs quickly learned that Western tourists were a ready market for netsukes, especially erotic ones, and were not too picky about authenticity or even quality, and soon Chinese craftsman began churning out "Japanese" netsukes in ivory, wood, and resin, often with bogus signatures. Some, like this creation, were nicely done, but many were hacked out on lathes and roughly detailed with modern drills. I have in fact seen variations of this same model in ivory, wood, bone, and resin, often far more crudely carved. The demand for ivory resulted in the extensive poaching of African elephants, threatening the wild population. The 1989 Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) ban on the ivory choked off, but did not completely end, the contemporary trade in commercial ivory.

 

Oiran in Ivory

I had earlier posted about the idealized image, and tragic reality, of the Japanese oiran. This superbly sculpted ivory cigarette holder features two images of such a grand courtesan. On one side she is shown in her full name regalia, with her elaborately embroidered obi tied in the front and her hair intricately adorned with ornaments.

The extraordinary quality of the carving, from the fine crosshatching in the background to the delicate details of her dress, gives the image depth and dimension. 

On the other side she is shown in dishabille, clad only in a simply open robe, although her hair is still arrayed in an elaborate style. 

The piece, just 6 inches long, is signed. Before the introduction of filtered cigarettes, a cigarette holder mellowed the inhaled smoke and helped prevent the inhalation of small flakes of tobacco. This beautiful example could have been carved for the European trade, but it may also have been created for the Japanese market. Tobacco was introduced in Japan by European traders in the late 1500s, although it was smoked using a long pipe called a kiseru. However, cigarettes were produced in Japan by the late 1800s and quickly became the popular way to consume tobacco. 

 

A New Kitty in the Neko Clowder

Added to my collection, and my maneki neko page, is this wonderful, and very unusual, antique lucky cat and kitten carved from fine marble.

Job Benefits

I currently volunteer at the charity consignment shop, Next-to-New. I also write their blog, "Treasures from Our Trove," highlighting a weekly unusual find. Today, after finishing my shift, I was walking through the sales floor, looking for something blog worthy, when I found this delightful picture of a demure bathing beauty.

She is an illustration from French luxury magazine, the "Journal des Dames et des Modes." The Journal, which ran only from 1912 through 1914, was aimed at an educated, urban, sophisticated, fashionable, and wealthy, clientele. The magazine was extremely exclusive and printed in limited quantities. Although its pages included stories, travel articles, and poetry, its focus was on fashion. Instead of being bound, the Journal was issued as a folder containing original hand-colored prints by some of the finest Art Deco artists of the period. Most of these limited edition prints were "pochoirs," created by using a series of stencils for applying each different color. However, this earlier illustration is a hand-tinted etching.

Dated 1912 and entitled "Costume de bain en taffetas changeant," the work is by André Maurice Albert Pécoud, a French artist who worked as an illustrator for many magazines of the period, and was also a renown painter and poster artist. "Taffetas changeant" refers to "shot silk," a silk fabric woven with different colors of warp and weft threads, producing an iridescent fabric. Maybe that is why our lovely bathing belle looks a bit distraught, as she is worried about how salt water might change her "taffetas changeant."

 

Backward Glance. . . .

The only thing more daring than the décolleté on this bathing beauty's skimpy swimwear. . . .

is the backward glance, revealing that, except for two skinny straps, her entire torso is bare to the waist. Of excellent china and beautifully modeled and decorated, this seaside siren is about 4 inches long and 2.5 inches high. She is incised "19144" on her right hip. The German firm of Carl Schneider used a 14000 to 19000 number series for its half dolls and bathing beauties, and her modeling is similar to this company's products.

The knitted tank suit, first introduced in 1910 by the Portland Knitting Company (later to become the renown Jantzen swimwear), was praised by swimmers and athletes because its form-fitting fabric made movement easier, but it also caused consternation among those concerned with decency and public morals because such suits were. . . form fitting. Still, the tank suit soon became the popular model for swimwear throughout the 1920s, and over that decade the straps became thinner as the legs climbed up the thighs, revealing ever more limb. As this image from a 1936 catalog demonstrates, by the mid-1930s the ever-shrinking tank suit was "business in the front, party in the back." The narrow straps bared the shoulders, making them appear broader, and this, along with belts and contrasting patterns between the top and bottom, gave the illusion of a narrower waist.

 

Striking a pose. . . .

And she most certainly is striking! At 17 inches tall, this lovely lady was no doubt intended to be a countertop display mannequin. Jointed only at the shoulders, she is of a heavier celluloid material, with rods in the soles of her feet that fit into holes in her marbleized base. There are no marks, not even on her domed pate under the blond mohair wig. I have seen this and similar mannequins represented as German from the 1920s, but I know that somewhere years ago I saw this same mannequin identified as by the French company Petitcollin from the 1930s-40s.

Her facial painting resembles that of earlier and larger Petitcollin dolls, with beautifully painted eyes with a white highlight to the left of the pupil, shading on the upper eyelids, and heart-shaped red lips.

UPDATE: The "Les Poupées de Mariline," a French website dedicated to dolls and doll restoration, identifies this beautiful belle as by Petitcollin: https://www.restauration-de-poupees.fr/en-gb/reconnaitre-les-baigneurs-celluloid#Petitcollin

UPDATE II: I heard from Les Poupées de Mariline, who confirmed that this fine figure "is a rare decoration figure from Petitcollin around 1930. The base is generally made of plaster and celluloid on. It is not a toy. This production was destined to be dressed. Decoration dolls were very current between 1925 and 1935. I found information in the Elisabeth Chauveau book about French production of celluloid." I will now have to locate a copy of that book!

 

Off the Cuff

These antique cuff links were a gift from a very dear and thoughtful friend. Under a high curved dome of clear glass, a graceful bathing belle prepares to dive in the silver and blue water. Although the cufflinks resemble the so-called Essex crystal stickpin that appeared earlier in this blog, they do not feature reverse-painted intaglio figures. Instead, the images seem to be flat, painted on a shiny background, perhaps of silver foil or mother-of-pearl, which gives the colors a shimmering effect my camera could not capture; the glass dome both lights and magnifies the image. The image is amazingly detailed, considering that each cuff links is only 0.75 inches in diameter.

The back of the button carries the patent date of April 24, 1880, and the shank has the word "ACME" under the outline of an eagle. I traced the patent, which was for a "new and useful Improvement in Buttons," filed by the inventor William Covell and assigned to Fred I. Marcy of Rhode Island. Marcy was a jewelry manufacturer whose firm used the name "Acme." Originally the firm was Sturdy and Marcy, but after his partner, James Sturdy, retired in 1877, the company became "F.I. Marcy and Company." Although the Marcy enterprise flourished for a time, a waning interest in buttons and other economic issues resulted in Marcy leaving the jewelry business for insurance. After a hiatus of two or three years, Marcy returned to jewelry manufacturing, but continued to struggle. On November 4, 1896, Marcy committed suicide (scroll down to "Suicide of Frederick I. Marcy"), resulting in the closure of the company. The article notes that at its peak, company manufactured "a general line of jewelry, such as the Acme lever button, which he turned out in immense quantities every day, the line including about 6,000 different designs and patterns. . . ." and "enjoyed a high reputation in the market and had the full confidence of the trade." These cufflinks therefore date from 1880 through 1896.

Another Negligee Nymphette

Previously this blog has featured a couple of lithe leggy beauties from Hertwig and Company's series of "Negligé-Damen gekleidet" (women dressed in negligees). Here is yet another, still clad in her sheer lace and ribbon negligee. Like the others she is of sharp pale excellent precolored bisque and is beautifully sculpted, but although she also wears the same tinted lavender stockings, her molded pumps are pink. She is about 5.25 inches long and 2.75 inches high.

Here is the same figurine pictured in the Hertwig catalog, indicated as model number "2319."

Although any marks are hidden by her original outfit, she still carried the remains of her paper inventory tag, on which is written in ink, "2319/51" (in the catalog, this figurine and her mirror image, pictured previously on this blog, were both "2319," so "51" may have indicated which pose) and a partial number ending in "80;" in the catalog, the price for this model, "per Dutzend Goldmark," was 19.80

Yet Another Coquette in a Corset

The German firm of Schafer and Vater loved to make things in a series. This blog has already featured several of its coquettes in corsets series. These curvaceous cuties gad about in their white combination undergarments, with a blue corset cinching their waists and pushing up their already ample bosoms. There only other accessories are Schafer's trademark black stockings, reddish orange heeled boots, and a big blue blossom adorning their blond tresses. This lovely lass is the sixth one I have found in this series and who knows what other poses are still out there. However, this bisque belle apparently wants to be loved as much for her mind as her body, as she looks up from her reading.  And what weighty tome of history, philosophy, or the sciences is she reading?

Oh, never mind. . . . Five inches long, this voluptuous bookworm is unmarked.

 

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder. . .

 . . .and I think this middle-aged bathing belle is utterly gorgeous. From the firm of Galluba and Hofmann, better known to collectors for their slender bathing beauties, this more mature matron is beautifully sculpted, capturing every well-earned roll and wrinkle. 

As you who've followed this blog know, I am very cautious about the use of the word "rare," but I think the term can be used to describe this delightful dowager. She joins her sister, already in my collection. While the new addition has molded brown hair with slight washes of gray and a molded bathing cap, my other example wears her original mohair wig, also touched with gray, and her original net bathing suit. 

Together they appear to be critically critiquing fellow beachgoers. . . 

. . . perhaps something along these lines.

Both sisters are 5.5 inches long and 4.75 inches high. Although the sister in swimwear has no visible marks, her nude sibling is incised on the bottom "80423 TT."

Both grande dames are pictured on this page from the Galluba catalog. The belle in the beehive and net swimsuit is featured on the second row with the model number "T80423TT." In the center of the bottom row is another lady of a certain age in what appears to be black lace bathing attire and molded hair and bonnet, perhaps edged with a bit of lace, with the model number "80423TTA." The additional letters may have been provided so that potential buyers could clearly indicate which model they were ordering.

Both ladies have their right hand folded behind their hip. Perhaps they were caught in mid-gesture as they were placing the hand on that hip, but I like to think that they are secretly signaling that cute cabana boy.

These senior sirens with their very realistic modeling are very different from the typical Galluba bathing beauties with their idealized cameo faces, tiny heads balanced on often too-long necks, wide shoulders, breasts that stand up like two scoops of ice cream regardless of the pose, and long legs and arms often out of proportion to the body. Despite their beach wear, the average Galluba bather has the palest complexion, while these two are deeply tanned. Featured earlier on this blog is another rare example from Galluba, the handsome beach beau. He shares the same detailed anatomy, expressive features, and bronze tan. I wonder whether these two models were sculpted by the same designer.

A close up of their unique faces. They in fact appear to be exchanging a meaningful glance. Perhaps that cabana boy has just lost his tip!

Toweling Off

This bronze bathing belle poses on her marble pedestal. Wrapped in a towel, perhaps she is contemplating a dip in the waves, or maybe she is resting after a refreshing swim, as the ribbons to her bathing cap are untied, dangling down her back. Her ballet-style bathing slippers are bound with bows at her ankles. 

However, her towel swings open on a hinge, revealing that the bather has neglected to do a bit more than simply tie her bathing cap. The lovely lass has a soft golden patina, while her towel and bathing cap are darker bronze. 

Incised "Austria" on the back, this 6.5-inch mechanical bronze is yet another example of Austrian foundries' fascination with seaside wardrobe malfunctions. Beginning in the mid-19th century, Austria was famed for its foundries and ateliers producing finely crafted artistic bronzes. Although works covered a wide variety of genres, including classical studies, animals and nature, comic subjects, and Orientalist images, one speciality was erotic bronzes, often with the naughty bits initially concealed, only to be revealed by a push of a button or the moving of a piece of metal drapery. 

Unusual Oiran

Although in the West, people generally refer to any figurine or image of a traditionally dressed Japanese woman as a "geisha," the geisha, traditional female entertainers highly skilled in dancing, musicianship, singing, and witty conversation, were a small subset of Japanese womanhood. The geisha and the maiko, a geisha in training, are identified by their specific hairstyles and wardrobe. This lovely lady, clad in layers of elaborately embroidered kimonos, is not a geisha, but an oiran, or a grand courtesan. The clue is not only her ornate outfit and hairstyle, but her obi (sash) tied in a wide knot in the front. Originally, Japanese women all tied the sash of their kimono in the front, but in the 1600s, as the obi became wider and more elaborate, most women shifted the knot to the back for convenience. However, the high-ranked courtesan wore her obi knotted to the front, the better to display the costly material and embroidery. For like her bejeweled hair, multiple kimonos and opulent obi, the oiran was a pricey status symbol only the wealthiest men could afford and enjoy. 

In 1642, the Tokugawa shogunate, in an attempt to impose order and morality, limited brothels and prostitution to isolated "pleasure quarters:" Yoshiwara outside of Edo (now Tokyo); Shimabara in Kyoto, and; Shinmachi in Osaka. Inside these pleasure quarters was a strict hierarchy of prostitutes, with the oiran (and her predecessor, the tayū) at the pinnacle. They were the glamor girls of the ukiyo or "floating world," in which men could temporarily escape from strictures of a highly regulated society by floating in gently swirling currents of beauty, passion, and pleasure. These were the women pictured in woodblocks or scrolls, flawless beauties with idealized interchangeable faces, cocooned in costly kimonos. With her highly ornamented hair, whitened face, layers of padded silk, and stylized poses, the oiran was an extravagant objet d'art, only a glimpse of the nape of her neck or a flash of a bare calf revealing there was a woman underneath, like a present waiting to be unwrapped

Although there are no contemporary writings by the women of the pleasure quarters, even the highly literate oirans, the crowded quarters were certainly less than pleasurable for the women forced to work there. Most were sold to brothels as children by their desperately poor families. If a girl showed unusual beauty and grace, she would be trained as an elite courtesan, learning not only how to play instruments, sing, and dance, but also to write poetry, do calligraphy, and be a witty conversationalist, all skills intended to make her more attractive (and therefore more profitable). Although the company of a courtesan was costly for an elite customer, the oiran herself profited little from the transaction. She was kept in continuous debt to the brothel, expected to pay for everything from her ever-more elaborate wardrobe to her entourage of attendants. Her only hope for freedom was for some enamored man to pay off her often enormous debts. Although her life was certainly more comfortable than that of the sex workers lower in the hierarchy, the oiran still faced the dangers of sexually-transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy, abuse by the men who owned her or paid for her, and the demands that she make her quota of customers, even when exhausted or ill. Most women working in the pleasure quarters died young.

Now, I know that some of you are thinking, "Yes, the figurine is lovely and the history is interesting, but where is the naughty part?!"  Well, here it is. . . she lifts out of her lower garments, revealing that she is bare from the waist down. Made out of beautifully modeled and glazed stoneware, this figurine is 10 inches tall.  There are no marks.