Vintage Bearded Official Doll Acrylic Stand, China (1301B)

Description

In many cultures, dolls were used as children’s entertainment and 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.

This bearded official doll wears a traditional ‘spread-wing” official’s hat. His dark blue robe with gold trim has a circular design  enclosing with mountains and a cloud.  Although dressed as a Chinese official, he is clearly an entertainer. He holds a set of paper clappers (Kuaiban)– meaning “fast boards,” a two-millennia old Chinese castanets-like instrument made of bamboo or wood slats tied together which entertainers rattle, shake, or clap together to produce a complementary sound or beat.Originally mounted on a wood stick under his attire, it is remounted on an acrylic stand.

This piece is in excellent condition with expected signs of wear and use in the clothing and minor paint losses. The four dancer dolls we offer, all mounted on a frosted acrylic stand, are charming as a collection

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.