Ms. #372 is a china powder box adorned with a bisque bathing beauty by Galluba and Hofmann. The 4 inch tall seated bather beauty wears her original dark blonde mohair wig and yellow net suit with pale yellow ribbon trim. She has no visible marks, but her sea shell seat is incised “9641" on the bottom. The lissome lass is attached to the top of the box with a wooden peg. I dislike the term "rare," which is overused and abused in the world of antiques, but in all my years of collecting, I have come across only one other shell box and belle by Galluba. In that example, the shell was larger and the reclining bather was pegged to the shell's lower edge.
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