AHAB’S WIFE, American, c 1850

We are Moby Dick fans in this family, and this carved wooden doll resonates “whaling” to us. Her form is reminiscent of figureheads and her stoic expression and posture call to mind the nature of the whaler’s wife —— ever watchful, ever loyal and devoted. When one has spent time on Nantucket, and sees what was the austere nature of the location and climate of the islands, one wonders at the trails of the women left behind. (I only say “was” since my time there was in the mid-20th c before the significant influx of tremendous wealth and privilege.)

This figure was part of the Peter Brams Collection, sold by Skinner years ago. He collected both contemporary and folk arts, and this piece is clearly a combination of both in its simplicity and directness.

She is 13.5” tall, with a “Jenny Lind” look - pronounced curls and features. She has “nose rub” suggesting that she really was a doll; professionally mounted on a black wooden stand.

WOODEN MISTRESS, 1st half 19th c

At 29” tall, this lady commands attention. Her body is made up of many hand-fashioned carved pieces and her head, with its distinctive shape, facial features, ears and bun atop her head, along with glass eyes, is among the strongest I have ever seen. She has what looks like gesso on her head and lower arms. She has been living in Maine, purportedly found at an antiques show in the hands of a mid-western dealer years ago.

One photo is surely not enough, and words seem to have little meaning when one is looking at such a compelling object. There are such deep echoes of the past in her presence.

Suffice it to say that she is company of a profound kind and not for the faint-hearted!

Hepzibah Pyncheon
*SOLD*

When I recently opened a tiny Christmas shop in my little parlor here on Middle Street, one of my friends suggested that never since Hepzibah’s shop in the House of Seven Gables had she been in a more intimate place of business. Hence, this doll’s name since 1851 seems a good year for her, and she seems to be a bit on the powerful side.

She is 30” tall, her features are watercolored, her hands are worn kid and have separate fingers, and she wears a pair of red and white striped stockings. The dress she wears is not original, but appropriate.

A New England woman, at home in our 18th c parlor.

Louisa’s Doll ~~ Perhaps

Walpole served as a place of sojourn for the Alcott family for short stints in the mid-1850s, and I like to think that Louisa walked by our little house which is right in the center of town, and a stone’s throw from a house that was then a tavern, and the scene of dramatic productions in which Louisa starred.

So, this beautiful papier mache lady has acquired a famous name. She is 20” tall and in completely original clothing from the last half of the 19th century. Orchard House in Concord, MA, the home of the Alcotts, is a favorite haunt of mine and there, in a tiny room upstairs, you will find a small settee on which sit 3 treasured Alcott family dolls. The house resonates with the lives of its inhabitants, and this sweet doll would feel completely at home there.