Bisque headed doll dressed as a Welsh Girl in traditional costume; made by Alt, Beck & Gottschalck in Germany, about 1880

Doll representing a Caucasian woman, dressed in Welsh costume. She has a bisque shoulder head, with moulded and painted facial features and curly blonde hair; her inset blue eyes are of glass. The body, upper arms and upper legs are of undyed calico with a firm stuffing. The forearms and hands and the lower legs and feet are of moulded and painted bisque, the legs and feet painted to represent white stockings with blue garters and black ankle boots. The clothing consists of:

A short full cloak of red wool, with a large hood to cover the high-crowned hat. The cloak fastens beneath the chin with tying strings of black ribbon and is edged throughout with featherstitch worked in black wool.

A broad-brimmed hat of black beaver, the high tapering crown trimmed with black glass beads around the crown. The hat fastens beneath the chin with tying strings of blue ribbon.

A shallow loose-fitting cap of white net and lace, trimmed at each side of the face with a single ruffle of gathered lace. The cap has no fastenings but is stitched together beneath the chin.

A loose-fitting wrapover short form of the betgwn [gown] of white cotton printed with a design of red and dark blue buds or fruits on brown stems. The garment has a V neck which is pinned closed into the body at the front; the wrist-length sleeves are gathered at the armhole and wrist.

An ankle-length underskirt (pais) of unlined wool patterned in vertical white and red stripes on a brown ground. The garment is arranged in unpressed pleats at the waist.
An apron of brown, coffe and white horizontally striped cotton attached in unpressed pleats to a waistband and tying strings of brown cotton tape fastening in a bow at the front.

A neckerchief of red cotton, just visible at the neck of the betgwn.

A petticoat of striped black, white, yellow and red flannelette, with unpressed pleats at the waist.

A petticoat of cream coloured flannel, with unpressed pleats at the waist, and embroidered with double featherstitch in red wool just above the hem.

The doll carries on her true right arm a shallow oval wicker basket, with a looped handle, containing a ball of red woollen yarn and a piece of tubular knitting on four steel needles.

Given by D S Brock

Given by D S Brock. The doll is part of a collection that formerly belonged to Audrey Denison.

The shoulder heads of the Scotsman and the Welsh Girl in this gift were made by the same company and from very similar moulds; the difference being the treatment of the eyes.

Alt, Beck & Gottschalck of Nauendorf, near Ohrdruf, Thüringia was founded in 1854 as a water operated porcelain factory - Porzellanfabrik Von Alt.

Reason For Production: retail

This doll was made in Germany in ca.1880 by Alt, Beck, and Gottschalk, a famous high-quality doll manufacturer known for their use of bisque.

The doll has a bisque head with blonde hair and blue glass eyes, and is dressed in traditional Welsh costume. She is wearing a red wool cloak, a black hat, a net and lace cap, a wrapover gown of white cotton, an underskirt, a neckerchief, and two petticoats. The doll carries an oval wicker basket containing a ball of red yarn and a piece of knitting.

The Museum of Childhood also owns a Scottish doll also made by Alt, Beck and Gottschalk, which has an almost identical head and shoulder mould.

MISC.33-1978