Rare Huret and Jumeau Wooden Head Dolls

The Huret and Jumeau wooden head dolls appear to be contemporaries of the earliest examples of "Bebe Toute En Bois" which were 100% wooden dolls created in Germany for the French doll trade marketed as "unbreakable play dolls". I believe that their dolls were early attempts by Jumeau and Huret to respond to what they must have perceived as another German challenge/threat to the French doll making industry.

Manufacturing wooden dolls was a short lived experiment because both Jumeau and Huret quickly realized that wooden head dolls were too difficult and too slow to make. Wooden dolls required a special workers, different finishing procedures and a separate set of supplies. Wood dolls caused an intollerable amount of extra manufacturing effort in a work place set up to produce masses of porcelain dolls.

In addition these wooden dolls didn't compare well to the bisque dolls created by both firms. Huret created some finely made, beautiful wooden dolls, but did they compare well to Huret's fabulous bisque dolls in their own eyes? Jumeau must have been sorely disappointed in the end result of their wooden head experiments - some incredibly ugly Jumeau wooden dolls.

Both manufacturers chose to abandon hopes of creating "a wooden head unbreakable play doll" and concentrate on what they did best - porcelain bisque heads.

How many wooden headed Jumeau and Huret dolls are there?
Were wooden dolls a special order from Huret?

Will anyone share a photo of their wooden head Huret and wooden head Jumeau?

Wooden head by the House of Huret

need a photo

The HOUSE OF HURET was a fancy doll studio in Paris, France well known for producing quality bisque head dolls. I have seen photos of at least one wooden headed Huret Lady. It is documented by photos in DOLL NEWS Aug. 1963. I would love to have a color photo of this fabulous doll to post here, but I do not know her current owner. If you have any information on any wooden headed Huret dolls, please contact me. I have been told that a very large museum has several wooden headed Huret dolls in its very vast collection, but these are all locked away in storage and inaccessible.

"Indestructible Bebe" by Emile Jumeau

need a photo

Jumeau wooden bebe dolls had inset glass eyes, and looked like a wooden version of his famous bisque head dolls. According to Margaret Whitton, these dolls had composition bodies, and some had speakers. These dolls also had traditional wigs and pates covering a hollow cut into the back of their head. They were marked with a paper Jumeau label on the neck. The ones that I have seen in photos were not painted very well - perhaps a china painter was assigned the job of painting the wood heads struggling to get the paint to look delicate but looking worse with each brush stroke.  One of these dolls is in the Margaret Strong Museum. It is illustrated on page 29 in the book "The Jumeau Doll" by Margaret Whitton. This book also prints some quotes from the Paris directory where Emile Jumeau advertised that he made "unbreakable dolls" and "Indestructible Bebe dolls" in 1878 and 1879.  JUMEAU announced that they were creating some wooden head dolls in trade journals. These dolls co-incided with their very early attempts to market an "indestructible bebe". Unfortunately the doll that they finally decided to call their "indestructible bebe" was a bisque head bebe with a compo body - far from indestructible! In 1885 Emile Jumeau stated, "The Jumeau unbreakable Bebe dolls all carry the maker's name. First marketed in 1879, 110,000 were sold in 1883". This statement must refer to their bisque head doll.

SATIRICAL FRENCH COURT DOLLS or Princess Lambelle Dolls

photo coming Photo thanks to  Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art

Marie Antoinette had many wood dolls that, according to John Darcy Noble's very logical theory, were used as lap puppets. Doll Reader highlighted these naughty dolls in a January 1996 article. They were well carved one-of-a-kind wooden dolls that were very unflattering, caricatures of court members and often sexually confused.  These were not created to be "fashion dolls" - simply to showcase the court fashions. They were richly dressed and fit for a queen (with odd taste). No details were left out of the costumes of these clever court dolls. As a result, they provide a very detailed, accurate account of actual court dress during the time of Marie Antoinette.

17th century child's doll Photo thanks to Doll Reader

BAVARIAN CHILD'S DOLL This 17th century doll belonged to to Susanna Huygens (died 1725), a daughter of the famous poet, Constantijn Huygens. It has survived for over 350 years and is presently displayed in the house, now a museum, where she was played with so many years ago - at the Museum Hofwijck in Voorburg, a small city near The Hague in Holland.  This large doll is 31-1/2 inches tall. The head and torso is of one piece of wood. The doll appears very primitive. Her nose is heavily battered, and the features are painted on the gesso over the wood. The top of the head is painted black, but nail holes suggest that a wig was once attached. The arms seem to be original with the very large simple "spoon hands" but the legs have been replaced.  Some of her costume is original and replacements are in keeping with the age of this doll.

Some of the early wooden dolls of this region are masterfully carved in a realistic style, and dressed in finely detailed clothing.

Unfortunately some German dolls have sometimes been called "Dutch Dolls" because of a confusion between the word "Deutsch" (German) and the word "Dutch".
 

17th century  Festival doll

Op-Signoorke ("most famous doll in Belgium") Valentyn van Lanscroon carved this ancient wood doll in 1647. This festival doll is carried along in special feasts in Mechelen (the former capital of the Netherlands). He represents an old, drunkard. The doll dances in reaction to the simple movement of being thrown into the air - falling limply around like a drunken man.  Like some college mascots who fall prey to rival college student's pranks, Op-Signoorke is like a town mascot falling into many misadventures.  Jump to the Mechelen, Belgium travel page to read more about the wild history of this wooden dancing doll.

Norway
Winter Sports Souvenir Dolls by Mimi Berg

Mimi Berg's souvenir dolls are dynamically posed to represent people actively involved in some winter sport famous in Norway: skiing, and skating. They are dressed in hand-knit outfits with appropriate accessories. They have whimsical faces with blonde hair - very Nordic looking.

The 9" Skater doll has a carved wooden head & torso with a poseable wire armature body. She is dressed in a knitted skating dress and cap with wooden boots, metal skates. Her original hang tag reads "Mimi Berg's Norgesdukker - handmade in Norway". Her previous owner of the skater doll stated, "She looks like Sonie Heine to me".

The skier doll She stands 7" tall and is wearing a lovely knit sweater, gloves and cap with cotton pants and carved black boots. She has a leather strap with a back pack and ski poles

Please contact me if you know any more about these dolls or this artist.

Skier by Mimi Berg photo thanks to Nancy Schwartz

Skater by Mimi Berg photos thanks to Marian Allen

name tag on Skater

Many Italian craftsmen and artists were involved with creating some of the most elaborate religious "crib" dioramas. The early, hand carved figures are masterpieces and the precursors to the modern "art dolls".

See more information about dolls from the northern Italian Alps.

Poland

Joli Doll a nurse c. 1960's  photo by Jean Lotz

Turned Jointed "JOLI" Dolls These are available only on the secondary market for extremely modest prices. I recently found an advertisement for these dolls in an old Doll News May 1964. The ad shows 3 Joli dolls and reads: The 12 cute "Jolidols" are eager to join your collection - each wooden head individually painted - each doll in a different American costume. 9" tall. INTRODUCTORY OFFER - $10.00 dozen (limited time only) add $1.00 postage. Sheard's Hide-A-Way, 400 S. main St., Middletown, Ohio 45042 These are low quality, turned "egg head" dolls with occasional exposed sharp splinters. The wood heads, hands or feet were not sculpted. Hands are simply 1/2 of a ball and the feet look like a turning that was split lengthwise and glued to the end of the legs. They are only jointed at the hips and shoulders. The jointing method is one of the simplest, "a strung butt joint", where mating flat surfaces are drilled through the arms body and opposite arm, then stringed and knotted and glued on the outside.  They are crude but really cute They were dressed to represent a wide assortment of characters including "Pinnochio". They have coiled fiber hair. The clothing is sewn on to the doll thus it is not removable. The hat is glued on to the top of the head.

Spain
More to come!
 

Former USSR

Russian Folk Doll Photograph courtesy of Theriault's Annapolis, MD

RUSSIAN EGG HEADED FOLK DOLL (possibly from the 19th century) 14" Egg shaped wooden head on hard stuffed muslin body. He is an old man with very artistically painted facial features. Theriault's catalog stated he was carved and painted, but I can't see any indication of carving from the photograph.  His original costume consists of a white tunic, gray trousers, long gray greatcoat, and a black fur hat.

Russian Slash Carved Dolls

Slash Carved Dolls Photo by Camille Buda listing regularly on eBay as nuffstuff4 2 slash carved icons - no paint  scene of slash carved icons

Slash Carved Dolls a report by Viktor Solovyov Alexander Varganov (b. 1957), a graduate of the famous School of Bogorodskoye carving, resurrected the ancient Russian slash carving which had been used to produce icons and dolls.  Now, thanks to Alexander Varganov's efforts we can not only admire the Sergyiev and Bogorodskoye dolls which are often locked up in museum show boxes, but also see them made, buy them and give them to our children to play, or decorate your home with these little souvenirs. (Sergiyev and Bogorodskoye are the names of places where dolls are made)  It has been dubbed as the Russian wooden tangara (the Japanese doll) and peasants cubism  Notes from Jean Lotz: The sharp angles of this carving style and distorted perspective ("peasants' cubism") is more noticeable in the icon samples. These one piece figures have lightly decorated, boldly carved bases. There is a sparse and artful use of paint.