Is there still a place for porcelain dolls?

The first porcelain dolls are works of art, which were created in the 19th century and to this day are valuable masterpieces for collectors. The most valuable are the products of brand-name manufactures, creating unique works on the model of human beauty, crowned with one of the most precious ceramics – porcelain, used to be not only a customary element of entertainment but an accurate representation of the trends of the era. Miniature figures have been known since antiquity, but their functions sometimes vary. They reflect spiritual and cultural needs in depicting the forces of higher, humanity, perform entertainment, decorative and educational functions.

Puppets are a timeless part of human creativity and a model of the current aspirations of society and its conventions, fulfilling aesthetic, emotional, psychological and social needs. Porcelain creations are prestigious masterpieces, appreciated by enthusiasts, hobbyists, artists, aesthetes, investors and doll makers. With the development of technology for a part of society, porcelain dolls are no longer popular. On the other hand, handicrafts are gaining in value, and those fascinated by the uniqueness of these dolls claim that they are inanimate matter with a soul, encased in porcelain. For some owners, they are members of their families, passed down for generations. And today they are the perfect idea for gift.

The history of puppets

In antiquity, they served a cultic function, in Christian times depicting Jesus with Mary and the saints, and the In the 16th century, secular dolls appeared. The first dolls were made of fabric and wood, around 1800 they began to add wax and thus achieved a more natural look. As is known, it is a heat-sensitive material so over time it was replaced by paper pulp, while porcelain began to be used around 1830.

The doll, as one of the oldest toys, appeared in many roles and, representing a human being, served various functions: as a child’s toy, a tool of enchantment, an amulet, a fetish, a trinket, decorating bourgeois salons, as well as a representative model and a mannequin in the fashion theater. From about 1900 until the 1950s, celluloid was used for dolls, and over time it was replaced by vinyl and plastic from which the famous Barbie was made. The creator of the first Barbie doll was Ruth Harzdler. N the Polish market appeared 30 years later, in the 1980s, in stores like Pewex.

Porcelain dolls produced by hand in small batches were signed with the maker’s trademark or name. The most famous German manufacturer porcelain dolls, traveled throughout Europe, then settled down and bought a toy factory in Sonneberg (Tyrrhenian) and a porcelain factory in 1885. The first signature with an anchor was registered in 1893 (anchor and the letters AM in a circle). The signature with the letter W denoted a doll’s head made specifically for Louis Wolfe, a company with headquarters in Sonneberg and branches in Boston and New York that distributed German and American dolls in the U.S.A. In 1910, a signature with a stylized anchor combined with the letters AM was registered, and around 1920, a signature with a more formal anchor and the letters AM on either side or at the top.

Porcelain doll collections

Nowadays, dolls with porcelain are an icon of a bygone era, but they still have a circle of loyal fans and do not lose their aesthetic and collector’s value as prestigious works of art. Over the years, the dolls have earned a circle of ardent supporters, who are able to pay sums of up to several thousand dollars for them. Their beauty is not the only motivation for purchase, as their prices later jump up to tenfold, and dolls are simply an extremely good capital investment.

Some of the most desirable and The most expensive dolls in the world are Zawierszynski dolls. Quite recently there was a record sale of one of them in Moscow for35 000 dollars. The Zawierszynski couple’s dolls have become a form of investment, although new models are hard to come by, it is certainly a good investment for years to come. The purchase of porcelain dolls falls into the same group as investments in whiskey, old cars, or comic book boards. The dolls are made in Minnesota their history began in Stalowa Wola. Zawieruszyńcy is a brand with traditions that is overseen with care and handcrafted by a married couple.

Henry and Sophie, who carve and sew clothes for their dolls. They come up with names together, i.e. Natalia, Anulka, Celestyna, Apolonia. In addition to porcelain Natalie Apolonie are made of other materials, such as wood, or PVC. Their products have already won more than 100 awards and can be found in every corner of the world. Competition is fierce, this type of dolls are made by companies mainly from Europe: Germany, England, Italy, or Spain. Outside the US, these are the largest markets, and recently collectors from Russia have been gaining weight. Some of them are fascinated by porcelain dolls, often Hollywood stars or investors.

The market is stratifying, various fashions, trends and novelties are appearing, and the “Zawierszynski” brand broke out in the 1990s on the wave of popularity of products from Eastern Europe, despite the fact that they were created from scratch in the USA. Nowadays, there are cheap dolls from China and fakes for people with smaller wallets but with a desire to own a unique doll. The global record price for a porcelain doll is more than 6 million, and it is a 200-year-old doll, a mechanical “Birdman” that can even play the flute.

Fashion canons

Fashion has always been the element of culture most closely related to customs, mannequins and dolls became, also its faithful reflection. They began to take care of an elegant outfit for the doll, often very exquisite, corresponding to the prevailing trends. The doll’s clothing was even a model, showing what the current fashion was, dresses and patterns are accurately reproduced according to the trends of the era.

The huge role of dolls in fashion has been accepted due to lack of modeling profession. In the past, outfits were presented not on living people but just on dolls, which became an integral part of the fashion world. The beginning of its development was in the 14th century, when news of fashionable clothes and hairstyles began to be transmitted through dolls. Dolls were the equivalent of today’s journals, instead of a toy doll, they served a supporting function in disseminating information about fashion changes, acting at the same time as models and three-dimensional journalling charts.

In later centuries, model dolls came to be called “pandoras.” In the English-language literature of the history of clothing, this type of doll is usually referred to by the term fashion dolls, in German and French respectively: modepuppen and les poupées de mode. Despite the objections of some Polish scholars, the term “fashion dolls” has become common among collectors and has been adopted into colloquial language. Fashion dolls include not only ancient “pandoras”, but also 19th-century porcelain dolls in fashionable creations and the latest incarnation of the model doll, namely Barbie.

Porcelain beauty

Considered one of the most noble materials, porcelain dates its beginning in the 7th century in China. Dishes, vases and figurines were created from so-called “sand porcelain.” From China, porcelain was brought to Japan, where traditional tea was served in ceramic cups. A century later, products made of kaolin clay combined with quartz and feldspar were brought by merchants to Europe.

It has been documented that the country was successful in porcelain production for the first time in 620, and a small group of manufacturers kept the composition of prized goods and the method of porcelain production a secret. It was not until 1708 Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus produced in 1709 officially announced the invention of European porcelain. The first white porcelain factory was established in Meissen, where the famous German artist Horold decorated porcelain wares with Meissen paints.

The art of decorating porcelain developed so much that over time, in addition to its practical function, it also began to serve a decorative function. The greatest heyday of porcelain in Europe was in the 18th century which was due to royal and princely patronage.

Called white gold, porcelain became an exclusive product. It was so precious that one porcelain trinket was worth a village. It was believed to have magical properties, for example, that vessels created from it shattered when filled with poison. Monarchs and bourgeoisie, wanting, to protect themselves from death, therefore solicited porcelain jugs and goblets.

Today, porcelain is decorated both by hand and by machine. Laser-decorated products are more accessible and less expensive, and a variety of white ceramic sets and individual porcelain trinkets are available on the market. The material, which was created hundreds of years ago, is used to make Dinner and coffee tableware, figurines, vases, caskets, dolls and jewelry.

Technology vs porcelain

In addition to its important role dolls as models, used to play a permanent part in home décor and socializing, because it was played with by girls and maidens until marriage, no matter at what age they married. At the time of marriage, it was given to someone in the immediate family or kept. This represented a sort of ceremony of transition from childhood and play to adulthood.

Civilization and cultural changes have also penetrated the world of dolls, it is increasingly rare to see a little girl walking down the street with a doll cart or similar to ordinary people, more like movie ideals, idols. Even the form of play is changing to digital and virtual. In the age of technological development, dolls have been replaced by robots that can perform domestic, defensive and even partner or matrimonial duties. Fashion has been dominated by humans or holograms, and in the domestic sphere it happens that people are replaced by robot dolls.

Children’s miniatures, on the other hand, are deceptively reminiscent of living figures equipped with vital functions. In the era of robotization and digitization, technology has become an integral part of every aspect of civilization, so it has not bypassed the world of dolls. Porcelain is being replaced by a material that deceptively resembles human skin, and the soul of a masterpiece doll, by an artificial intelligence capable, of performing any programmed action. The world is inexorably moving in a new direction, and doll production is subject to this, but given the human need for beauty, porcelain dolls will always find their lovers who appreciate their aesthetic, unaging soul.