They're small hand held brushes known as brush dolls,sometimes clothes brush dolls, or whisk broom dolls.
Whisk broom dolls were used to brush crumbs off dining room tables into a small dust pan.
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| As you can see, I still have some amaryllis' blooming. |
Clothes brush dolls were used to---what else?----brush clothes.
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| This one almost looks like a shaving brush! |
A lot of brush dolls have porcelain half dolls for tops, but these ladies are all made of wood.
Both types of brushes were popular in the 1920's and 30's. This lady looks very 1920's.
The lady in red could be 20's or early 30's.
The other two are figural, but the lady in red is flat, and her back is undecorated.
The bristles in the two larger dolls are some sort of hair bristles.
The smaller one looks and feels synthetic though. Maybe it's just a different type of hair.
The small one looks like she's wearing a riding habit.
I liked the look of these, and inadvertently started this small collection.
The two bigger ones are my favourites,but don't tell the equestrian lady...
Those are the dolls for today. I got some interesting dolls out of the glass case today,to photograph, so you'll be seeing them soon. Maybe tomorrow you'll see one.
Interesting little dolls. Someone in my doll club made a presentation last year on "half dolls." I had never heard of that term before. I think that brush dolls would fall under that heading. I had no idea that folks placed doll images on top of so many objects.
ReplyDeleteThank you Dorothy! You've just given me the idea to do a post on half dolls.
DeleteThese are very interesting and of course useful too. I have never seen anything like these before, but they make a nice collection.
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I love these! I have never seen them but how unique. I think the flat lady in red in my favorite.
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