Beauty and her Sisters - a photo on Flickriver

            “Once there was a rich merchant who had a noble house of his own, and many goodly ships upon the seas.  He had three daughters, all handsome: but the best in outward and inward charms was the youngest, who, from childhood, went by the name of Beauty.  She was the pet of everybody but her two vain, giddy sisters who were jealous of their younger sibling for her natural charm, good temperament and beauty.”

Beauty and the Beast, written by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve.

The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 4th of October is "odd one out".  It was my birthday recently, and my Mother, who knows I like to photograph cotton reels with haberdashery and half-dolls, gave me three beautifully hand painted half-dolls as part of my birthday gift.  I decided to use them for this theme, and originally I had two painted half-dolls flanking an unpainted bisque one.  However, I wasn’t happy with the results.  Then I thought of the story of Beauty and the Beast, and Beauty’s wicked sisters, who whilst beautiful, paled in comparison to their little sister.  This then inspired me to swap things around, and use the two unpainted bisque half-dolls I own who are paling in comparison to my new painted half-doll in the middle, just like Beauty and her sisters.  Half-dolls generally don’t have legs, and none of mine do, so to give the illusion of legs, their bases are swathed in vintage lace, trims and tassels that hang down, looking like wonderful fantasy gowns.  I hope you like my choice of subject for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile.

The "half-doll" is a dainty porcelain or bisque figurine, fashionable in the early Twentieth Century with an upper body, head, arms, but no legs.  These dolls were produced in the thousands at the height of their popularity by German factories such as Dressel and Kister, Heubach, Goebel and Kestner.  Later they were produced in France, America and later still, in Japan.  They commonly served as handles and toppers for fabric covers made for powder boxes on ladies’ dressing tables and small brushes, however they were also made for jewellery boxes, pincushions, tea cosies and other covers.  In this case, the central “odd one out” who is painted is brand new, but cast from an old mould.  Most half-dolls were painted and glazed, but a smaller number, like my two vintage German half-dolls have been left unpainted, in their natural bisque state.  Whilst my new one has a tassel and is designed to hang from a doorknob or china cabinet, the two vintange ones would have been made for a lady’s boudoir and were most likely the topper for powder bowls.  They all stand at three and a half inches in height.

Taken on: September 21, 2024

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Sets appears in: • Collectables • Ribbons, Lace and Notions more » • Against a Black Background « less

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS, f/2.8, 1/30 sec, 6.2mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Focal Length:	6.2mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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