Soft Toy thumbnail 1
Soft Toy thumbnail 2
Not on display

Soft Toy

ca. 1920 (manufactured)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The German company Steiff was founded in 1877 by Margarete Steiff. One of her nephews, Richard, was responsible for many of the early designs of the company's jointed animals. Richard was a talented artist and used to visit Stuttgart Zoo to sketch the animals. Steiff is particularly famous for its teddy bears. Richard designed the first jointed bear in 1902 and the design was perfected in 1905.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Stitched and stuffed mohair
Brief description
Light brown mohair plush toy lion cub made in Germany by Steiff about 1920
Physical description
Golden mohair lion cub jointed at the neck and four limbs. The mohair is short and the tail is stitched on. The ears are stitched over the facial seams. The eyes are orange and black glass. The nose is stitched with gold coloured thread with a black thread outline down the sides that continues to form the mouth. The mouth is further defined by dark stitches underneath. There are small dark spots on the mohair cloth around the mouth and eyes giving this lion its juvenile appearance. There are gut whiskers pierced through the snout. Each of the four feet has three claws stitched in black thread. There are no paw pads. There is an internal voicebox that no longer works. There is a small metal button and the remains of a label in the left ear.
Dimensions
  • Height: 21cm (maximum)
  • Length: 25cm (maximum)
excluding tail
Credit line
Given by Nicholas Lucas
Object history
Belonged to the donor's father, John Anthony Dunbar Lucas (05/05/1915-20/07/1999)
Summary
The German company Steiff was founded in 1877 by Margarete Steiff. One of her nephews, Richard, was responsible for many of the early designs of the company's jointed animals. Richard was a talented artist and used to visit Stuttgart Zoo to sketch the animals. Steiff is particularly famous for its teddy bears. Richard designed the first jointed bear in 1902 and the design was perfected in 1905.
Collection
Accession number
B.79-2011

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdAugust 16, 2011
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest