Vintage Bearded Doll Official-Dancer Acrylic Stand, China (1301B-EAO) $195

Description

This doll of a Chinese official as part of a Chinese opera has a unique gold and silver thread stitched and sequined design circling a series of triangular mountains topped by only traditionally shaped clouds, generally not on an official’s robe. In many cultures, dolls were used as children’s entertainment and as didactic tools to teach cultural beliefs, philosophy, lore and history. In China dolls were part of a folk-art tradition to communicate cultural symbols, customs, folktales, rituals, holiday celebrations, and family events and milestones. Small, charming, and attractively dressed dolls were decorated to the extent funds were available to echo attire people would see at holiday occasions, in Chinese operas and Chinese dances and puppet theater and other public events, particularly in rural areas where most people were illiterate and required visual education. When dolls were soiled from use, their clothing would be cleaned or replaced. Children were also taught visual puns and tonal puns called homophones to understand the doll’s meaning used in everyday life. The four dancer dolls we offer are charming as a collection and they are mounted on frosted acrylic stands.

Sources

Nancy Zeng Berliner, Chinese Folk Art, Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1986.

Terese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art,, San Francisco, The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006.

Patricia Bjaaland Welch, Chinese Art; A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery, Rutland, Tuttle Publishing, 2008.