Bawdy Bisques and Naughty Novelties: Put Through the Hoops

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, February 3, 2022

Put Through the Hoops

The fashionable crinoline or hoop skirts of the mid-1850s to the late 1860s, as appeared earlier on this blog, were a target of sometimes tawdry humor. This crinoline-clad miss seems every inch the most prim and proper lady. Perhaps that is a prayerbook tucked under her arm?

Peek underneath and it appears that this maiden's prayer has been answered, as there is a dashing suitor concealed under her crinoline. The crinoline cage a created bell-shaped skirt, sometimes as wide as six feet. Wags wondered what women did with the ample empty space secreted under all that fabric. One salacious suggestion was that a young lady might use her supersized skirt to hide her lover from a suspicious chaperone or meddling mama. Of fine china and delicately painted, this early figurine of a lady and her undercover lover is 5.5 inches tall and unmarked.

Bawdy Bisques and Naughty Novelties

Postcard Image

Thursday, February 3, 2022

Put Through the Hoops

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