18th Century Dolls, Dollhouses, and Doll Clothing

Wooden dolls

• V&A T.847-1974 (“Lord Clapham”) and V&A T.846-1974 (“Lady Clapham”), London, c. 1690-1700
• V&A MISC.264-1978, England, c. 1700-1720
• A wooden doll, England
• MFA 43.1768, England
• MFA 43.1769, a male doll, England, c. 1730-1740
• Bowes 1970.187.a/TOY.301, England, c. 1735
• A wooden doll, c. 1740
• Wooden doll, England, c. 1740-1750
• V&A MISC.271-1981, England, c. 1740-1750
• Nordiska museet NM.0151866, a male doll holding a platter of chicken, c. 1740-1759
• Christie’s Lot 608 / Sale 5746, a very rare George II turned wood baby doll
• Manc 1955.21, England, c. 1740-1760
• A doll “given to Mariana Davis in Paris in 1747, when she was three years old and had just recovered from a dangerous illness … The doll is two feet high, and made of wood. The dress, which is lifted to shew the pincushion on the petticoat, is of red, white, and green striped silk, with a Watteau back. The petticoat is wide and hooped, and has two pockets suspended from the waist; one has a monogram embroidered on it, and the other a coat of arms. The pincushion is also suspended from the waist by a ribbon strap, and hangs quite low on the edge of the petticoat. It is covered with satin, of a salmon-pink shade, with a yellowish ground, but the satin is so faded it is impossble say what the original colours were.” (Pins and Pincushions)
• James D. Julia 238, Lot 130, mid-18th century (see Selected Highlights)
• Mary Merritt Lot 15, England, mid-18th century; a doll with “wooden shoulder head with long neck and graceful features, brown pupilless glass eyes, platinum curled wig, kid body with wooden limbs”
• Carmel 328, mid-18th century
• MoL, a 1750s doll dressed in printed linen
• V&A MISC.49&:1 to 3-1963 (“Sophie”), England, c. 1750-1770
• V&A T.90 to V-1980, a fashion doll, England, c. 1755-1760
• MFA 43.1770, England
• MoL, 1766-1770; “The doll has jointed legs and carved wooden lower arms; the upper arms are cloth. The head has painted facial features and glass eyes; the wig is of grey-brown human hair, rolled above the forehead in imitation of contemporary hairstyles. She wears a very fashionable blue and white dress and petticoat, of figured English silk, and a linen underskirt.”
• Carmel 254, c. 1770
• Christie’s Lot 978, Sale 8004, a carved and painted limewood doll, c. 1770
• V&A MISC.41-1968, England, c. 1770-1775
• Nordiska museet NM.0107718, 1780
• Christie’ Lot 588 / Sale 9494, a turned and carved wood doll, for a baby house
• Nordiska museet NM.0112941A-H, an 18th century doll in early 19th century clothing
• Bowes 1970.187.2B/TOY.302, England, c. 1775
• Christie’s Lot 1179 / Sale 9853, c. 1775
• V&A MISC.15-1952, England, c. 1770-1785
• LACMA M.85.229, a male court doll, France, c. 1780
• Carmel 338, c. 1780
• LACMA M.83.37a-b, Incroyable doll, France, c. 1790
• Christie’s Lot 270 / Sale 4105, an Enlgish turned and carved painted wooden doll, late 18th century
• Christie’s Lot 770 and 768 / Sale 9724, a fine English turned wood doll late 18th century
• MFA 43.1607, sewing kit in the form of a doll, England, late 18th century
• Small doll figure, possibly for a doll’s house, late 18th century
• Bonham’s Sale 17971, Lot 159, a German doll, late 18th century
• May Merritt Lot 28, a male doll and a female doll, late 18th century

Wax dolls

• Nordiska museet NM.0151865, made in the first half of the 18th century; the black velvet dress is probably a later addition
• SPNEA 1924.918 and 1924.919, c. 1720-1725; “These extraordinary objects, made by the teen-aged daughter of a well-to-do Boston, Massachusetts, family, are the only American-made free-standing figures known to have survived from the eighteenth century. Wax work, like fancy needlework, was among the artistic skills considered important in the education of young girls during this period. Sarah Gee supported these figures on armatures and used colored beeswax and real fabric trimmed with lace dipped in wax for their bodies. They are protected by their original English bell jars and mounted on turned wooden pedestals made to fit the jars.”
• MoL, 1756-1765; “Wax fashion doll. A fashion doll with solid wax head and limbs on a wire frame, with moulded and painted hair and glass eyes. The doll is wearing a formal Court dress of striped and brocaded silk with a wired skirt. She has a compass hanging at the waist.”
• V&A W.183:7-1919; petticoat had a note pinned to it saying “Mrs Powell Wedding Suit 1761”
• Nordiska museet NM.0025851, a doll dressed in a Norwegian bridal gown from Telemark, made c. 1770-1779

Other dolls

• PVMA 1885.40.07, a rag doll (named “Bangwell Putt”) made for a blind girl (Clarissa Field of Northfield, Massachusetts), c. 1770
• Nordiska museet 0022622A-B, a pair of dolls made of silk wrapped over wire, c. 1770-1779
• Met C.I.41.113.5, a straw doll, fourth quarter of the 18th century

Doll clothes

• The dolls known as Lord Clapham and Lady Clapham have many garments and accessories, which can be found on the V&A’s “Search the Collections” site.
• Met 13.204.63, silk trousers, France
• MFA 43.1772a,b, a pink silk taffeta robe à française and petticoat
• Christie’s Lot 66, Sale 5666, a doll’s mid 18th century half hoops
• Met 2009.300.1740, France, c. 1740-1760; “This charming miniature coat is constructed exactly like a man’s suit coat of the period. The spindly flower embroidery on the pocket flaps and cuffs is particularly whimsical and has a biomorphic quality.”
• PHM H4448-149, a doll’s shoe, England, c. 1760-1800; “Dolls single straight shoe of veldtshoen construction with blunt point toe and no heel. Shoe consists of red and brown uppers, featuring a Morocco vamp and one piece quarters, remains of pink silk lining and a leather sole.”
• Queen Anne style doll costume
• Met 13.204.61, a doll’s waist, dressed in a silk brocade jacket (?), France
• MFA 48.362, a white dimity pocket with linen tie, America

Dolls’ houses and “baby houses”

There are a lot of detailed photos of dollhouse furniture and related miniatures on Bildindex.

• Rijksmuseum BK-NM-1010, the doll’s house of Petronella Oortman, c. 1686-1705
• The Blackett Baby House (closed view), England, 1740-1742
• V&A MISC.24-1967, England, 1750-1800
• V&A W.1-1954, The Henriques House, England, c. 1750-1800
• W.9 &:1 to 348-1930, The Tate Baby House, England, c. 1760
• V&A W.13-1949, the Denton Welch dolls’ house, England, 1783
• V&A MISC.240-1979, dollhouse set into the top of a writing-desk, England, c. 1790-1800
• V&A W.49-1925, May Foster’s House, England, c. 1800

Doll furniture

• CW 1940-224, a cradle, southeastern America, c. 1775-1825

Depictions of 18th century children with dolls

• Children’s games by Willem van Mieris the Younger, 1702
• Le Dejeuner by François Boucher, 1739
• Three children
• Lady and gentleman with two girls and a servant (A Lady in a Garden taking Coffee with some Children) by Nicolas Lancret, 1742
• Catherine-Félicité and Adélaïde Berthelin de Neuville by Carle van Loo, 1743
• Portrait of three children (see Lot 115)
• Portrait of a girl holding a doll
• Kinderspiel by Christoph Andreas, c. 1751-1772
• Madame d'Orval et mademoiselle de Wargemont by Carmontelle, 1760
• Mamma Giving Toys, c. 1760-1765
• High Life Below Stairs by John Collet, 1763
• Building houses with cards, 1764
• The Little Princess of Braunfels by Anton Wilhelm Tischbein, c. 1765
• The Quiet Husband, 1768
• Reynard’s Last Shift, 1770s
• A Child by John Flaxman, 1772
• L’Enfance - Childhood, 1775
• Detail from The Copley Family by John Singleton Copley, c. 1776-1777
• Prince Luigi of Parma and his three oldest sisters, 1778
• Drawing of a boy and a girl with a doll by Pieter de Mare, 1779
• Girl with a doll by Sir Joshua Reynolds
• Le petit Fille vue de face est vétue d’un Foureau de Tafetas, 1780
• Portrait of a child holding a doll by Giovanni Battista Cipriani
• Mr. Deputy Dumpling and Family Enjoying a Summer Afternoon, 1781
• The family of Mégret de Sérilly by Jacques Thouron, 1787
• Louisa Airey Gilmor (Mrs. Robert Gilmor) and her daughters, Jane and Elizabeth by Charles Willson Peale, 1788
• Peggy Sanderson Hughes and her daughter by Charles Willson Peale, 1788-1789
• Hushaby, Lullaby, 1794
• ’Tis my Doll, 1795
• Child with a doll by Anne-Geneviève Greuze
• Child with a doll by Christian Leberecht Vogel
• La mere a la mode; La mere telle que toutes devraient etre, 1800