Antique DOLL Collector June 2018 Vol. 21, No. 5
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The Revolutionary Vision of Blampoix by Nicki Burley
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hen I first found Imogen, she was just one of a thousand beautiful dolls in our regional event sales room. Yet somehow, she was the only one. Though she took my breath away, I couldn’t let myself entertain the idea of taking her home. Before that evening, I had never purchased a quality antique doll, so I walked around the showroom in a daze, trying hard to find something more reasonable to buy. As we walked, however, my friend and I discussed the dresses I could sew for this little doll and the furniture she needed. I wondered which shades of silk would light up her huge blue eyes. Of course, she would want a trunk‌ We never paid attention to anything else we saw. I placed a cautious hold on her overnight, but her name came to me as I tried to sleep, and I was utterly smitten. She was meant to be my girl.
Imogen, the little lady who caught my eye from across the sales room. She wears an enfantine-style grey silk dress with bretelles like fashionable doll children of her day.
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Photos Courtesy of Carmel Doll Shop (unless noted otherwise)
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When I discussed the purchase the next day with Michael and David of the Carmel Doll Shop, I was intrigued to learn that my tiny fashion child was a Blampoix, of whom I knew nothing. David kindly sent entries from a reference guide, but other information proved hard to find, and Imogen herself offered few clues. She was obviously early, given her nearly white unglazed bisque head, which was also unmarked. Undressing her revealed a v-waisted, gusseted leather body, mostly white through the torso but darkened and repaired at the knees and lower legs. Most interesting were her arms. With bisque lower arms and kid over wood upper arms, I found a fascinating ball and socket system at the shoulder that allowed them to swivel naturally. But I was left still wondering what was significant about the name “Blampoix.” Was the company important in its day, only to be eclipsed by the great names of Bru and Jumeau? What set these dolls apart from others? To help me find answers, my friend shared copies of the Theimers’ comprehensive The Panorama of Parisienne Dolls and Polichinelle Volume 4. A fascinating picture emerged as I read these longer articles: a tale of the earliest days of French doll innovation and the dawn of a luxury industry, of family, fortune, love, and loss. Like many financial success stories, its roots lay in favorable changes to the law. Before the French Revolution, inventors had to seek royal permission to make anything new, which left the common man at a disadvantage. But through the 1790 patent law, anyone could safeguard their ideas with a simple legal process. The concept was so novel that by the time Mlle Huret registered her famous articulated doll body in 1850, only two other patents for dolls had been registered. The most important was for a porcelain which created superior doll heads, leading to increasing French freedom from German doll manufacturers. Then after Huret’s success, a flurry of patents was soon registered, each seeking to improve or refine some aspect of dollmaking. Dolls became an important part of the Second Empire’s luxury economy, and a fortune could be made with one original idea. Claude Joseph Blampoix, who had been in the doll business since 1840 but had previously purchased the heads he used, was the first to suggest an improvement we now consider standard: the insertion of glass or enamel eyes into porcelain heads. According to his 1855 patent application, it had “not yet been done up to this day…eyes have always been painted.” The application also shows a mechanism for sleeping eyes, which appears as a pull cord on the abdomen of leather-bodied dolls. Dolls attributed to Blampoix have a distinct look because of his innovation. The eye cuts are somewhat small, set with deep blue enamel or blown glass eyes threaded with a lighter blue. The addition of glass eyes had far-reaching impact. To insert eyes, the molded head was first fired to a soft-bisque stage. At this point, the clay was firm, but the eye sockets could be carefully cut with a knife. The heads were then fired again, cleaned and painted, and a third firing set the colors onto the bisque. This firing process led, in turn, to another development we now take for granted in porcelain dolls: flesh tones and subtle make-up. First to go were the shiny glazes which had been applied in the past, because the glaze altered the paint shades in an unrealistic way. Interestingly, the Theimers note that the earliest bisque dolls are quite pale because of the way decorative objects were
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Imogen has deep blue inset glass eyes, threaded with a lighter blue. Her eye cuts, rimmed in black, are slightly larger than those seen on other Blampoix dolls.
Undressed, Imogen displays the interesting rotating shoulder joints that set her apart from fully leather-bodied dolls. (Photo by Nicki Burley) ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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The Cat’s Meow by Zsazsu as told to Paula Olsson
This is that noisy German wind-up “Kitties Tea Party” that I mention in the article.
Sheet Music. What better way to persuade children to practice piano than to entice them with comical cats?
German papier mache mother cat and her kittens Skittles game were manufactured over several years starting in the late 1800s. Many types of animals were portrayed in these games but cats are extremely rare. 28
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n my twenty years of a very happy cat life, my Kingdom has consisted of a big old house full of antique toys and lots of soft comfortable cushions on which to loll. As I make my rounds roaming the house every morning in search of the perfect sunbeam, I am proud to say that many of these old toys are in my image, or should I say the image of my species, the king of all animals, the CAT. Miss Paula is the lady who takes care of it all and lives with me here in my Kingdom. I think she must be partial to us because she keeps bringing home more relics to add to the collection and more often than not it has to do with cats or kittens. As long as they are not the living breathing kind, I’m fine with it. I am certainly glad I was born in these modern times because you know that before the Victorian era cats had it really bad in ways that are too horrible to mention. Unless you go way back to ancient Egyptian times where cats were held in the highest esteem, we cats had a really bad rap. It is exciting to think that in Egypt some of my ancestors were worshipped as Goddesses, my favorite is
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French Autonmatons by Roulet and Decamps circa late 1800s. These cats are not too thrilled with their motherly duties. When wound, they rock both babies with just a little too much enthusiasm.
Rare and important ‘allegorical’ automaton is attributed to Roullet et Decamps. The courtier is dressed as Puss ‘n Boots in fine silks, plumed hat and ‘leather’ dress boots. He rotates in hot pursuit of a charming mouse he has captured by the tail! But who is chasing who?! A comical and functional parlour toy, complete with original dome. $9,500. courtesy of ‘Matrix by Mail’ Antique DOLL Collector
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By Sheryl Varon with Diana Boettger Photographs by Sheryl Varon and Diana Boettger
Tools of the trade: basket of roving mohair, hand-dyed by the artist.
A brief history and an introduction to the work of Diana Shorey Boettger of DSB Doll Wigs—a dedicated and talented artisan who is recapturing that art.
Bird’s-eye view of the underneath side of the part, showing a four-thread weft (top); and a two-thread weft (bottom). 38
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Close up of the top side of the part, showing a fourthread weft (top); and a two-thread weft (bottom).
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here was a time in the history of antique doll collecting when many collectors were drawn to the haunting and beautiful faces of French and German Bisque-headed dolls, but did not appreciate the often torn, faded clothing, or disheveled, untamed locks these dolls came with. Sadly, some of these clothes and wigs were discarded in favor of newer clothing made from synthetic materials and human hair or synthetic wigs that were not only inappropriate, but could be overwhelming on these lovely creations. Happily, modern collectors are savvier, and have developed a greater appreciation for the value and beauty of a doll that is all original—embracing its flaws as well as its attributes. Unfortunately, like the fragile silks and other natural textiles that make up their elaborate costumes, many dolls’ wigs have lost their length and luster over time. Most collectors have encountered at least one or two precious dolls that are experiencing bad hair days, or in some cases, “no hair” days. In these instances, appropriate replacements are called for.
Comparison between machine wefting (top row), and hand wefting (bottom row). Antique DOLL Collector
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