Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-08-03
Alisesnansous Rsadiag.
DOLLS OLD AND RARE.
In Countess dc Blonay's Collection Are
Speoinens DUO From Ruins

In Countess dc BIonay's Collection Are
Specimens Dug From Ruins.
Countess de Blonay's collection Of
dolls, which is known to connoisseurs
| as the most nearly complete Of its
kind in Europe, has just been on ex-
hibition here for the benefit of the
Calvary Guild. The oldest dolls in
| the collection came from the ruins Of
Nineveh and were presented to the
countess's great-grandmother by
Queen Marie Antionette. These dolls
are small terra Gotta figures and ivor-
ines, beautifully carved and in a re-
markable state Of preservation, says
Brussels dispatch to the New York
Tribune.
Next in point of antiquity are the
Greek dolls, Of which there are sew
eral fine specimens. These dolls rep
resent gods, heroes and common
mortals. There is one kind with f1ex-
lble limbs, and its clothes, antigua
rians says, were made to be taken off
and put on. Even the modern doll
house, with its supply Of dishes and
kitchen utensils, was familiar to the
maidens of ancient Greece, as is
shown by the specimens in the col
lection.
Somewhat less antique are the Ro-
man dolls, of which the countess owns
three varieties-dolls Of wax, ivory
and clay. The Roman clay dolls,
with jointed arms and legs, are among
the oldest and most valuable in the
collection.
A rare specimen is the Fosti doll,
from Assam, British India, presented
to Countess de Blonay by the late
Prince Henry of Orleans. 1t is made
of stiff paper and cardboard, painted
red. to represent an old man holding
fan, and is supposed to be the figure
of q person addicted to opium eating:
There is very fine Corean doll,
representing a woman in a variegated
dress of startling colors riding tiger.
This doll is degenerate image Of
Buddha himself.
The Fingo dolls from South africa
are perhaps the most striking speci-
mems. They are rudely carved wood
en- figures, which play an important
part with the natives, and are most
difficult to obtain. At the age Of IL
every Fingo maid receives a doll,
which she nurses until she becomes a
mother. On the birth Of her first
child her mother makes her a present
Of new doll; at the birth Of each
succeeding child she receives another
doll, all of which are sacred and new
er parted with.
A rare specimen is one of the oldest
existing French dolls, taken into
France during the reign Of Charles vi
by an Italian from Padua named Pu-
sello. These dolls were images Of ia
nous empresses and other celebrated
women Of the old Roman empire,
carved after statues and the figures
on coins. King Charles sent for Pu-
sello to amuse him, and was so great
ly taken with the statue Of Poppaea,
whom Nero is said to have killed, that
he bought 1t. To this source the
French word for doll-poupee-has
been traced.
Among the South American dolls
is one from Peru, exhumed from
grave. It is grotesque wooden pup
pet, and shows how the Peruvian
mothers carried their little ones about.
There are several oldtime Flemish
dolls, one of them a Bartholomew
baby" formerly sold at the fair Of
that name. 1t is noteworthy for the
quantity Of real jewelry with which it
is decked. The Flemish silver adorn-
ments and gold bracelets on this doll
are almost priceless from an artistic
point Of view.