RITUAL USE OF DOLLS:
Since the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century) the crèche,
with its dolls figures of the Holy Family, has been a part of Christmas
observations in many parts of the world. The religious use of dolls
or doll like figures persists in other modern Christian observations.
In Mexico, for example, dolls representing Our Lady of Guadalupe are ceremonially
paraded. Fertility rites involving the kachina dolls of the Hopi
people represent another continuation of ancient practice. These
cottonwood or cactus-root figures are given to children but are regarded
as sacred objects, not as toys. In Japan, children's festivals, which
have been performed annually for almost a thousand years, involve dolls
representing historic figures.
EARLY EUROPEAN DOLLS; The first dolls known to have been commercially produced as children's playthings were made in Germany in the early 15th century in factories at Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Sonneberg. Productions methods were crude; the products, costumed to represent German women of the time, were made of wood, clay, rags, and wax.
Beginning in the 15th century, manufactures in England, France, Holland, Italy and Germany began to produce dolls dressed in fashions typical of their respective locales. The more ornately costumed "lady" or "fashion" dolls were often used by rulers and courtiers as gifts. By the 17th century, however, simpler dolls, made of cloth or leather, were used as playthings by boys and girls.
The 1600's saw several improvements
in manufacturing. Dolls' heads were fashioned of glazed stoneware;
later, manufacturers used tragacanth ( a gum derived from an Asian plant
) and alabaster (a soft gypsum resembling marble). In 1636 a doll
with glass eyes that moved was offered in Holland, and in 1675 another
manufacturer created dolls that wore wigs of human hair. Until the
18th century Germany remained the leading producer of dolls and toys.
Early in that century it was discovered that soft leather could be treated
to feel like human skin and used to cover a doll's torso and limbs.
Although virtually all dolls had been designed as adults up to 1710, one
manufacturer then introduced a wax "baby" doll with movable eyes and a
crying voice. In 1737 walking dolls were made in Paris. Dolls
had begun to look, feel, and move more like humans, but the popularity
of high fashion "lady" dolls, typically manufactured in Paris, remained
paramount. Such dolls were often used to illustrate style trends
and were sent from one country to another to display the latest fashions.
19th CENTURY: Nineteenth century progress in doll making was extraordinary. In 1810 paper mache was adapted in Germany for making dolls' heads. Another of the major developments before 1850 was the introduction of ball joins, which gave dolls more natural limb flexibility. New materials included gutta-percha (a rubber like Malayan gum), glazed porcelain, unglazed parian (a soft-bodied china). India rubber, and bisque (lustrous, unglazed ceramic ware). Imperfections were covered with gesso (a mixture of plaster of Paris and glue) before the dolls were painted. In the 1840's the Montanaris, a family of English doll makers, perfected wax for the construction of dolls' heads; they also made some of the earliest "baby" dolls. Another 19th-century development was the cutout paper dolls.
Events in the second half
of the 19th century altered the course of the industry. At the same
time, however, simple rag and corn-husk dolls remained popular, distinctively
American products. In 1851 the Goodyear Rubber Company introduced
vulcanized rubber dolls. In 1860 the first "baby" doll that could
sit upright was shown in Europe. Manufactures introduced metal heads
in 1861 and celluloid heads in 1862. In 1865 the first American doll
manufacturing enterprise was founded, and at least ten similar operations
were functioning in the United States by 1900. These firms imported
French or German bisque and composition heads and limbs for assembly with
domestically produced bodies. When the century ended, the overwhelming
preference had changed from "lady" dolls to "baby" dolls made of bisque
or composition. Such dolls resembled human infants but lacked certain
human qualities.
MODERN DOLLS; European baby dolls with bent legs were introduced in 1909; in 1913 the "Kewpie," one of first American "character" dolls (dolls fashioned to resemble real or fictional personages), was introduced. These chubby faced figures with pointed heads became very popular. "Raggedy Ann" was created in 1918. World War I (1914-1918) curtailed European doll production, but by 1917 American doll companies were for the first time able to produce satisfactory bisque. Americans also created the hot-pressed method for producing composition in 1916, and their composition doll heads became superior to all others. At the end Of World War I it was clear that the United States had become a leading contender in doll manufacture. Noteworthy design innovations in dolls manufactured between 1925 and World War II (1939-1945) included sleeping eyes with lashes, dimples, open mouths with tiny teeth, fingers with nails, and latex rubber dolls that could drink water and wet themselves.
After World War II, vinyl plastics provided doll makers with the kind of basic material they had long been seeking. Late 20th-century dolls of vinyl appear and feel alive, and many are equipped with various action features. Some of today's dolls walk and have facial expressions that change. Hair can be repeatedly washed and styled because each strand is firmly embedded in the scalp. Popular character dolls include teenage "Barbie" dolls, launched in 1959, for which a variety of clothing and accessories is available; and "Cabbage Patch Kids," custom-made dolls with stylized features, which enjoyed success in
the United States and abroad in the mid-1980's.
For more than a century, doll collecting has been a popular hobby, and collections have been exhibited in museums throughout the world.
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