Vintage Female Doll Ceremonial Dress on Acrylic Stand, China (1301C-EAO)

Description

This doll is a Chinese opera dancer whose costume decorated with 5-petal plum blossoms symbolizing longevity and, with its 5 petals, a wish for the Five Blessings or Happinesses. In many cultures, dolls were children’s entertainment and didactic tools to teach beliefs, philosophy, lore, and history specific to each culture. In China dolls were a folk-art tradition for rural and city residents that communicated and explained cultural symbols, customs, folktales, rituals, holiday celebrations, and family events and milestones to a generally illiterate population that required visual education. Small, charming, and attractively dressed vintage Chinese dolls were decorated to the extent funds were available to echo holiday attire people would see at holiday occasions, Chinese Nuo opera, Chinese dance, puppet presentations, and other public events. When dolls were soiled from use, their clothing was cleaned or replaced. Children were also taught visual puns and tonal puns called homophones – similar sounding auspicious words with very different meanings used in everyday life for which the Chinese language is well known and is a major component of their humor. The four opera dancer dolls we offer are charming as a collection and are part of the VA Masks-Puppets-&-Dolls 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.