Bathing Beauty of the Week

 

Ms. #490 is a lovely lorelei, probably by William Goebel.  Although her upper half is that of a warm-blooded woman, her legs are covered with blue scales and end in finned feet.  The earliest depictions of mermaids generally show them with this spilt tail, their scaly legs coiling like twin sea serpents.  The stylized mermaid in the Starbucks logo and the statue of the Little Mermaid in the harbor of Copenhagen are examples of split-tail mermaids.  Of good bisque and modeling, this undulating undine is 4.5 inches long and is unmarked. 

Bathing Beauty of the Week

Ms. #489 appears rather rattled by her rodent visitor.  Of excellent sharp bisque and by Schafer and Vater, this miss and her mischievous mouse are 3.5 inches tall and 4 inches wide.  Her light blue skirt billows out to form a small dish to holds pins or trinkets.  There are no marks.

Limber Lasses for Your Ashes

These athletic ladies adorning ashtrays are from the German firm of Weiss, Kühnert, and Company.

Here is a picture from the WKC catalogue, dating from the 1920s or 1930s. 

This flexible flapper is the same model as the ashtray pictured in the catalogue, second from the left.  She is incised underneath "Germany" and "6231," matching the catalogue model number.  While certainly charming,  this china piece, like many WKC products, is of average quality and the decoration is a bit hasty, with dabs of black from her heeled pumps running down her right calf.  Her facial painting is very simple, with one stroke brows, black eyes and  lid lines, and  bestung dark red lips.  She is 3.5 inches long and 3 inches high. 

This ashtray is incised underneath "Germany" and "6232," also matching her model number in the catalogue.  Painted in graceful script on one edge of the base is "A Present from Southend-on-Sea."  Southend is a British seaside resort in Essex, dating back to the Georgian era.  She is 4 inches long and 3.25 inches high.

The limber lasses, along with model #6230, began showing up as separate figurines, without their ashtray bases, shortly after the reunification of Germany, and were sold as antiques, although they were clearly modern creations.  Their quality was better than that of the WKC originals, with swimsuits that were a light solid color with a darker trim and tinted stockings; the ball in Model #6230 was often striped.    

Bathing Beauty(ies) of the Week

Misses #486 and #487 are sisters, still clad in their similar, but not identical, original silk dresses.  Big sister is 5.5 inches high, while her bookish little sister is 4.75 inches tall.  They both also have their original mohair wigs.  While the outfits are unfortunately frail and frayed, they still show how the maker, Galluba and Hofmann, dressed its fashionable ladies in the elegant gowns of real silk and lace.  Underneath the tattered finery are molded undergarments, and at one point this pretty pair must have been mounted on a bisque bases, or perhaps boxes or pincushions.  The larger lady is marked with a "400" number on the back of her supporting pedestal.          

What I did on my day off for the Fourth. . . .

. . . reorganized my small gallery of bathing beauty prints, pochoirs, and posters.

Bathing Beauty of the Week

Graceful Ms. #483 is another delicate dancer from a series produced by Gebruder Heubach.  Heubach called this beautiful ballerina "Rose," and originally, adorned in a ribbon tutu, she posed atop a pincushion.  Of smooth pale bisque and beautifully modeled, she is 7 inches tall and unmarked.

Bathing Beauty of the Week

Ms. #481 appears to be very, very fond of her fine feathered friend.  No doubt inspired by the myth of Leda, this slender siren and her swan swain are actually form a holder for a man's pipe.  Attributed to the German firm of Fasold and Stauch, this pretty pair of interspecies paramours are 4.25 inches high and incised underneath "042."

My Cup Runneth Over. . . .

 . . . or at least my fountain does.  An inventive German collector converted some of his squirters to tiny bubbling fountains using a small pump, and I was inspired to try with some squirters from my collection.  I used a cat water fountain from Petco as the base (by the way, having tried a variety of such pet water fountains, I recommend the Petco product as the cheapest and easiest to clean and maintain), filling the two tiers with decorative aquarium gravel. 

 

I ran a length of aquarium air tubing from the pump into the squirter.  This little guy, modeled after the the famed Manneken Pis of Brussels, works exceptionally well, because unlike most squirters, the opening is in his back, rather than the usual top of the head.  The opening is also smaller than is typical, allowing for a tight fit of the tubing.  I also tested out a number of other squirters from my collection.

  

These ladies demonstrate why such naughty novelties were not meant to be used as perfume bottles.  Not only does the liquid squirt out a surprising distance in a stream, rather than a mist or spray, the fluid heads off in two different directions.

While the most typical type of squirter is a little boy in his nightshirt, this Black version is much harder to find than his White counterparts.

This unusual squirter portrays an early firefighter; he is actually spraying water from a hose coiled behind his right leg.  His helmet was designed to keep hot embers and ashes from falling down into his collar and the original was probably made of thick, tough leather.

Bathing Beauty of the Week

 Ms. #480 is a demure damsel who is just starting to come out of her shell.  Of excellent china, she is 5 inches long and 3 inches high.  Incised with "Germany" and faint number that looks like "Sp. 1116," she is attributed to Limbach Porzellanfabrik, which used this "Sp." mark on its products.

Bathing Beauty of the Week

Sitting pretty on her hog (definitely not the Harley-Davidson kind), Ms. #479 is a powder or trinket  box.  This fetching flapper and her porcine mount are of china, and while unmarked, are certainly of fine German quality.  The box measures 5 inches tall and long.  I wonder why in past times there appeared to be some strange fixation with women prancing about on big pigs. 

Reproduction Warning!

The Victorian Trading Company, which specializes in selling Victorian and Edwardian inspired cards, clothing, and decorative items, is offering the following reproductions of naughties and bathing beauties in its current catalogue.  The reproductions look  to be of good quality and there is no indication where they were made or whether they are marked.

This is a copy of a flipper inspired by the Five Barrison Sisters, a music hall act of the 1890s.  When she is flipped over, her bare bottom is exposed.

This is a copy of the turtle lady from the Germany company of Weiss, Kühnert, and Company.  Her bare buttocks are revealed when the top of the turtle shell is opened. 

This bathing beauty flower frog was originally produced by the Sitendorf Porcelain Factory, although other German companies produced similar items.

Bathing Beauty of the Week

Ms. #478 seems oblivious to the salacious shellfish reaching for the hem of her bathing suit   Boy, talk about fresh seafood!  The front of this 3.25 inch high bisque bather and her lascivious lobster  is slightly concave, so it could serve as a pin tray.  There are no marks.  I leave it to someone else to make the obvious "crabs" joke.

Bathing Beauty of the Week

Little Miss #477 stands 4.5 inches tall on her 1.25 inch tall box.  This sweet young girl is a very scarce child fashion figurine by Galluba and Hofmann.  Of the finest bisque and modeling, she is all original from her long wavy light brown mohair wig to the oval box of textured silver paper.  Behind her is a molded bisque basket, which serves as a support.  Underneath the box is stamped in dark blue with Galluba shield mark over "Germany."  There is also a green and ecru paper label that reads "Loza Y Cristal Canelilla Concepcion Jeronima 13 Madrid." 

Bathing Beauty(ties?) of the Week

This terrific twosome is a scarce double bathing beauty figurine by Galluba and Hofmann.  At 5.75 inches tall, this is a larger version of the desirable double.   Typical of Galluba, this pulchritudinous pair displays lovely bisque and the finest modeling.  They are incised under the bench "354 " 

Where is the Fake?

This beautiful bisque blonde sits up in her bed, pulling away the front of her nightgown as she appears to search for some object among her bountiful bosoms.  Along the edge of her blanket is the incised caption, "Where is the flea?"

Turn her over and the tiny frolicsome flea is seen settled on her bare left buttock.  This is a very scarce naughty "flipper" by Schafer and Vater.  Note her graceful arms and delicate fingers, very susceptible to breakage in an item that is meant to picked up and turned over. Not only is this piece hard to find, it is even harder to find it in good condition.

However, suddenly there has been a number of these scarce flippers turning up on eBay, all being sold as old and some even advertised as by Schafer.  Well, these pieces are neither old or by Schafer.  They are modern reproductions by Mundial Company of Belgium (HR2001 under "Baigneuses").  Here is one example.

 

The quality is quite good, but it does not match the sharp bisque and fine details of the original.  The hands are heavy and clumsy, the facial painting lacks the detail of the original, the modeling is blurred, and the colors are harsher.  However, unless you are familiar with the authentic antique or have the opportunity to see the original and copy side by side, you could be mislead into thinking this reproduction is the scarce real deal.  Like all Mundial pieces, it does not carry the company's mark or any indication this is a new copy.

The  bottom view. . . . 

Bathing Beauty (?) of the Week

While not technically a bathing beauty, Mr. #474 is a scarce and splendid sultan from a series of harem figurines by William Goebel.  At one point, this 4.25 bisque pasha had harem pants and a vest of silk, but now all he retains is his original turban to cover his bald pate.  The dull gold turban  matches his molded slippers with the up-turned toes, and he also wears a molded loincloth with painted "jewels."  His rather sleepy expression as he puffs away on his pipe makes one wonder just what he is supposed to be smoking!  There are no marks.



 Also from the same Goebel seraglio series is this very scarce Nubian serving boy.  Wearing his original brocade turban, hoop earrings, and (sadly shredding) blue silk harem pants, this dark-skinned bisque boy is  4.25 inches tall.  He has molded white baggy harem pants under his silk ones and large molded slippers with curled toes.  A little silk pillow is balanced in his upturned hands. There are no visible marks.

Hey, Our Eyes Are Up Here!

A German gentleman working on a psychological paper on images of lactation, after seeing Ms. #447, asked if I had other lady squirters who sprayed water from their breasts.  I put together this group photo to send him, but they all looked so alluring, I decided to post the picture on my blog as well!

1913 Costumes de Bain

I found this wonderful article on costumes for "bains de mer" (sea bathing) from the 1913 Gazette du Bon Ton, an exclusive French fashion magazine targeting a wealthy and sophisticated clientele.  The magazine was printed in limited quantities and was illustrated by many of the finest Art Deco artists of the period.  Unfortunately, I do not read French and when I tried to translate the article using Babel Fish, I got, well, babble.  Still, the charming and colorful illustrations showing what was once considered the finest in fashionable swimwear can be enjoyed in any language.   

 

Bathing Beauty of the Week

Ms. #473 appears to be a little shy, maybe because she now wears only her molded undergarments, when once she was clad in silk and lace.  Her outfit must have been quite elegant, because she wears painted long gray gloves.  By Galluba and Hofmann, this modest miss has managed to retain her original mohair wig.  She is 6.5 inches tall and is incised "405" with cursive "C". 

Galluba and Hofmann, Always in Fashion

A friend and fellow collector alerted me to this 1983 Nina Ricci fashion advertisement.  

What caught her eye was not the courtier dress, but the three seated ladies. . . .

 

They are all original fashion ladies by Galluba and Hofmann.  The company's 1914 catalogue displays a similar group of grande dames, all dressed in real silks and lace in the epitome of Edwardian elegance and seated in identical chairs.  You can see two similar ladies from my collection, sadly sans gowns and furniture, here and here.