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Antique French Wax Doll Head for a Marotte, from a wonderful collection bought in Europe. Wax heads like this were used to create a ‘marotte’ – the word marotte comes from the French, where it means either a fool’s “bauble” or jester puppet on a stick. The wax portion of the puppet was dressed with a collar and long garment covering the stick portion. Not all marottes were jesters, there were also puppets of many other characters made with a wax head like this. This one at one time had a head covering and gown, but both silk pieces were so shredded that the collector told me he removed them.
There is aging, a hole at the top of the head where a hat would have been put on with a pin, and the top of the head has some loss, most likely where the wax was removed a little to have the hat or crown fit snugly. There are a few areas where the wax flattened a little, above one eye brow for instance. The bottom of the stick has a broken off end, I opted not to fix this in case the new collector wants to add a wooden end piece or cut this part off. Please see the photos. A wonderful and rare to find addition to a doll collection, or for you to create your own beautifully dressed marotte.
- Measures 10-1/2″ l x 2-7/8″ x 1-1/4″.
