Beautiful peg wooden dolls made, I presume, in the Grodner Valley in what is now southern Germany and Northern Italy. The last doll pictured here is more refined and possibly earlier or from a different area of Germany. There are other areas such as the Nuremburg area and Sonneberg, Germany known for wooden toy manufacture. Most of the wooden toys made their way through the Nuremburg area for sale and distribution making it hard to attribute any one design to a specific locality.
1 comment:
Hello - lovely blog. Your doll that is tagged 174 is indeed earlier than the others. it was made about 1830-40 and the rest were made around 1900. you also mentioned how crudely made peg dolls were, and the later ones were, but the earlier ones were more finely made, and some were beautifully made.
The earlier ones begin with a turned head and body that are then carved so facial features will stand out then they are painted with several layers of gesso before they are painted. Many of them had intricate bal l joints, and I have some legs ( alas, the rest of the doll is lost) that are jointed at the toe as well as the ankle.
Post a Comment