Vintage Male Attendant Dancer Doll Holding a Peach, China (1301A-EOA)
$195.00
H: 9.25″ W: 3.125″ D: 3″
Originally mounted on the wood stick between his legs and now inserted to its acrylic stand, this vintage male doll is an attendant offering a huge peach. His large oval head is almost bald and his black hair remains only in a small patches on the sides of his head. He wears a typical colorful folk-art Chinese dance costume: bright red shoes, yellow pants, a greenish-blue coat with florals, a high sequined yellow belt, and a wide blue sash outlined with silver and gold thread and colored 5-petal silver sequin plum blossoms hanging down to the base evoking a wish for the Five Blessings or HappinessesIt is in very good condition with expected wear and minor paint losses and charming spotting on the face.
Description
This doll is a Chinese-antique-wood-carving of a male attendant dancer carrying a peach, among the most popular Chinese auspicious symbols representing longevity. He is presented as a Chinese opera dancer with his costume decorated with 5-petal plum blossoms also symbolizing longevity and its 5 petals evoking 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 one. In China dolls were a folk-art tradition for rural and city and residents to communicate and explain cultural symbols, customs, folktales, rituals, holiday celebrations, and family events and milestones where most people were illiterate and required visual education. Small, charming, and attractively dressed vintage dolls were decorated to the extent funds were available to echo holiday attire people would see at holiday occasions, Chinese opera, Chinese dance, puppet performances, 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 words with very different meanings used in everyday life – from a very early age which are very common in its tonal language and a key to Chinese humor. The four dancer dolls we offer are charming as a collection and they 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.
Additional information
| Dimensions | 12 × 10 × 6 in |
|---|---|
| Place of Origin | China |
| Period | Vintage (1920-1980) |
| Date | 1940-1950 |
| Materials and Technique | Wood, cloth/hide |
| Dimensions (inches) | Ht: 9.25” W: 3.125” D: 3” |
| Dimensions (metric) | Ht: 23.49cm W: 7.94cm D: 7.62cm |
| Weight | 8.2oz |
| Condition | Very good, no repairs/restorations (see description). |
| Reference Number | 1301A-EAO |
| Shipping Box Size |
