New-York tribune., 1909-06-01
DOLLS OLD AND RARE.
In Countess de Blonay's Collection Are Speci-
mems Dug from Ruins

Brussels. May 20-Countess de Blonays coffee
tion OF dolls. which is known to connoisseurs as
the most nearly complete Of its kind in Europe.
has just been exhibition here for the benefit of
the Calvary Guild. The oldest dolls In the coec-
ton came from the ruins Of Nineveh and were
presented to the countesss great-gra ndmother by
Queen Marie Antoinette. These dolls small
terra Gotta figures and ivornes beautifully carved
and in a remarkable state OF preservation.
Next in point of antiquity the Greek dolls.
Of which there several fine specimens These
dolls represent gods, heroes and common mortais.
There is kind with flexible limbs and its
clothes antiquarians say, were made To he taken
of and put on. Even the modern doll house with
its supply Of dishes and kitchen utensils. IA
rniIiar to the maidens Of ancient Greece. as is
shown by the specimens in the collection.
Somewhat Iess antique the Roman dolls. OF
which the countess owns three varietes-dolls Of
ivory wax and clay The Roman clay dolls, With
jointed arms and legs. among the oldest and
most valuable in the collection
\ rare specimen is the Fosti doll. from Assam
British India presented TO Countess de Bioray by
the late Prince Henry OF Orleans II is made Of
stin paper and cardboard. painted red, to repre-
sent an old man holding ian. and is supposed
10 he the figure of person addicted To opium eat
ing.
There Is a very fine Corean doll. representing a
woman in variegated dress ~ startling colors
riding tiger. This dol is degenerate image OF
Buddha himself
The Fingo dolls from South Africa are perhaps
the most striking specimens. They are rudey
carved wooden figures. which play an important
mart with the natives. and are most difficult 20
Obtain Al the age Of twelve every Fingo maid
receives a doll which she nurses until she becomes
a mother on the birth ~ her first child her
mother makes her a present Of a new DOLL at the
birth OF each succeeding child she receives another
doll all Of which are sacred and never parted with
There are some cumbersome dolls from Green
land cut out of bones and mammoth teeth and
dressed IN softly tanned skins The Alaskan dolls
are finely made and dressed in imitation of the
adult population
! rare specimen IS one of the oldest existing
French dolls taken into France during the reign
of Charles VI by Italian from Padua named
pusello These dolls images OF famous en-
rressas and other celebrated of the old
Roman Empire carved after statues and the hg
t,res on coins King Charles sent for PuseNo to
ar,use him and was greatly taken with the
statrratte ~ Popppa whom Nero is said to have
killed that he bought It To this source the French
word for dcll-roupea-h been traced
Among the South American dolls - one from
Peru exhur1ed from a grave 1t Is grotesque
wooden puppet and shows how the Peruvian
mothers carried their little ones about There are
several oldtirne Flemish dolls one Of them a
bartholomew baby" formerly sold at the fair OF
that name II is noteworthy for the quantity Of
real teUelrv with which II decked The Flemish
silver adornments and gold bracelets on this doll
are almost priceless from artistic point OF view