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DOE AND HOPE

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Email: [email protected]

https://www.decorativecollective.com/dealers/doe-and-hope

Item Details

The haunting papier-mâché mannequin bust, having an elongated neck supporting an expressionless head with hollow, shadow-filled eyes and a face partially obscured beneath successive layers of aged paper, the broad, truncated shoulders retaining their original darkened surface, whilst the features appear almost mummified, with remnants of hair strands caught beneath the fragile, overlapping layers, the whole most likely an unfinished workshop creation or a commercial display mannequin, the piece possessing a remarkable sculptural presence.


In wonderfully atmospheric, timeworn condition, with extensive surface cracking, losses, discolouration and areas of exposed construction. The paper covering the face has become brittle and partially detached, revealing the fascinating complexity of its manufacture. Whether never completed or subsequently deprived of its original decoration remains uncertain. The entirety has been left untouched, preserving its extraordinary and rather macabre appearance. The handwritten marking to the base and to one shoulder, which reads BG6, is a workshop or inventory reference rather than a maker's mark.


Papier-mâché busts and mannequins were widely employed by milliners, wigmakers and fashionable establishments throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Originally intended to imitate the human form, such objects frequently passed through numerous stages of construction and finishing before receiving their painted features and other embellishments. This particular example offers a tantalising glimpse into that process, although its exact original purpose remains something of a mystery.


A wonderfully disquieting survivor, occupying a peculiar territory between sculpture, mannequin and memento mori. There is something almost archaeological about its appearance, as though a forgotten figure has been unearthed after a century of confinement. Entirely captivating in displaying a process rather than a finished article, and perhaps all the more compelling for the face it never quite became.

  • Period: c.1950-60
    • Price: £395.00
    • €473 Euro
    • $530 US Dollar
  • Location: Buckinghamshire
    • Dimensions: H: 13cm (5.12in)
    • W: 14cm (5.51in)
    • D: 7cm (2.76in)