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.

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Pony Boy

Pony Boy, Pony Boy, won't you be my Tony Boy?
Don't say no. Here we go off across the plains.
Marry me, carry me right away with you.
Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, whoa! My Pony Boy.

Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, whooooooa! My Pony Boy

Bobby Heath and Charley O'Donnell, 1909

This Pierrot and his paramour are engaged in a little high-spirited horseplay. Of excellent china, they are  actually a powder dish. The flirtatious flapper is a half doll and her feathery skirt, which originally would have been a swansdown puff, rests in a shallow dish for holding powder (I have created a substitute for the missing puff).  Pierrot is 5 inches long and incised “6150” on his right hip. This playful pair appear ready to ride off into the sunset, perhaps taking the "bridal" path.




His elongated amber eyes are surrounded by grey shadowing, a technique typical of the German firm of Fasold and Stauch, renown for its unusual and stylish powder dishes and boxes.


Underneath, the piece carries its original paper label from The Neiman Marcus Company. Founded in 1907 by Herbert Marcus Sr., his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman and her husband, Abraham Lincoln Neiman, the first store offered high-end clothing and luxury goods, providing nouveau riche Texas oil barons and their families with new ways to flaunt their wealth. The company is still considered synonymous with luxury goods.

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