Object Literature
Early dolls were made from a variety of materials – fabric, feed sacks, pieces of wood, corn cobs, etc. Many of these were made by mothers and children, and often took on a very primitive, simple form. One of the simplest dolls was the stump doll made from a single part of a tree, made easier if the shape already somewhat resembled a person. A face was painted or roughly carved on it, then the “baby” was wrapped in a piece of cloth and a stump doll was born. Early English stump dolls were intricately carved and covered with a thin layer of plaster and varnish. Later these carvings became cruder and less individual as the dolls became more widely produced. This example would have been one of the last that were made in the original manner.
No more a child’s plaything, this is now an important and scarce survivor and an evocative and mesmerising reminder of the simplicity of a Georgian childhood.