Bawdy Bisques and Naughty Novelties: Hoop-De-Do

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.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Hoop-De-Do

This well dressed damsel dates from the mid-1850s to the late 1860s, when the fashion for crinoline or hoop skirts swept far and wide (and I do mean wide!) through the fashion world. The creation of the crinoline cage allowed wide bell-shaped swinging skirts, some as much as six feet in diameter.

The fashion for hoop skirts was often the target of social satire and even risqué humor. This china charmer shows a whole other side, displaying a damsel in dishabille buried beneath the wide rings of wire and whalebone and the many yards of fabric and flounces.

Just 3.25 inches tall, this comic china figurine is known as a fairing, because these small inexpensive porcelain pieces often were given as prizes or sold as souvenirs at fairs from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s.