Stunning dolls collected during his lifetime by W. Richard Wright made believers of several cynics when they were on view at Skinner’s Marlborough gallery in the preview of the October 10 sale. Wright, who died unexpectedly last May, had an unerring eye; he was also blessed with a finely honed sense of history and humor. His collection reflects all three. Wright began dealing at the age of 10 and opened his first shop at the ripe old age of 14. The son of collectors, he was a natural in the business.
Longtime friends and admirers came to greet each other, network and to view the 50-year Wright collection †for the last time, the amazing assemblage was displayed in its entirety. Most of those present remembered the dealer with fond and sometimes hilarious †and even a few unreportable †anecdotes. One might have expected to see a group of mostly women in pursuit of the dolls and accessories, but men accounted for a good number of bidders.
The dolls are an interesting documentation of the history, geography, politics, aesthetic and culture of the eras they represent. They drew dealers and collectors from across the world. Probably the collector who ventured the farthest was Christiana Grafnitz, the Stuttgart, Germany-based expert on papier mache dolls and author of the 2002 volume German Papier Mache Dolls 1760‱860 . She traveled expressly to bid on some objects in the sale and confessed that she had not been able to sleep for more than a week in anticipation of buying. She noted that Wright had “an exquisite eye.” She enjoyed several successes and appeared thrilled with her acquisitions, one of which was an Anglo-American school portrait of a child holding a doll that she got for $2,133. The oil on canvas work was estimated at $400/600 and was signed “F. Laudage” and dated 1848. She also bought a china doll, with which she was thrilled. A German museum representative was also an active buyer.
The auction took place at Skinner’s new Marlborough gallery and was brought to Skinner by Andy and Becky Ourant of Adamstown, Penn., who were longtime close friends and colleagues of Wright. Becky Ourant met Wright as a teenager at Shupps Grove where she was selling dolls and he was buying †all her French dolls.
For the Ourants, it was a sentimental and bittersweet journey: Andy noted as he began auctioning, “This is the last sale I ever wanted to have.” Speaking several days after the sale, recalling the years of his and Becky’s friendship with Wright, he said simply, “Totally cosmic.”
Andy Ourant and Skinner’s managing director of the Richard Wright collection, Stuart Whitehurst, shared auctioneer duties, and Becky Ourant executed left bids. No reserves were imposed.
The star of the sale was a 28-inch Roullet & Decamps automaton magician, made in Paris in about 1890, in the form of an elegant African female magician with a tinted bisque Jumeau head, brown paperweight glass eyes and a brown human hair wig. The insouciant-looking doll was dressed fashionably in antique lace, satin and velvet fabrics and presided with a wand over a table with two upended flower pots and an upended die revealing a mohair monkey head, a bisque child’s face and hands and a bisque clown with a painted face. She elicited $80,580 from a California collector.
A stunning 25-inch English Queen Anne doll, circa 1720, with a carved wood head and torso, mortise and tenon joining, carved hands, painted facial features with brown glass eyes and a human hair wig had elicited great admiration in the preview. The doll was dressed in the original silk brocade gown with a stomacher, brocade shoes with leather soles and double knit stockings. She had occupied a place of honor in Wright’s home, housed in a mahogany and walnut veneer and dome top glass case. She sold for $50,363 to a mid-Atlantic collector-dealer.
A pensive Continental Queen Anne memorial doll from about 1735 in a giltwood shadow box had a carved head and torso, jointed wooden legs, leather arms with carved wooden hands and a human hair wig. Dressed in the height of Eighteenth Century fashion in a peach silk dress with a silk pocket, a cotton handkerchief and the original paper bodice with script said to be a family history of the child who was memorialized by the doll, it realized $24,885.
An imposing late Eighteenth Century English Georgian baby house that was thought to have been made by an estate carpenter was highly detailed †with quoining, beading, hinged and locking doors †and was greatly admired. The nine-room, three-story house, which Wright acquired from the estate of collector Dorothy Dixon, who bought it in England, brought $11,258. Hundreds of miniature figures and furnishings from the baby house and held as spares were sold separately, bringing a total of $80,375.
Two bidders in the gallery vied for a set of Alice in Wonderland cloth dolls by the Martha Chase Company of Pawtucket, R.I., circa 1920, including a Frog Footman, Alice, the Duchess and the Mad Hatter, each with a painted stockinette head and all garbed handsomely. The lot sold for $40,290.
A French portrait Jumeau bebe “Elizabeth” doll, circa 1880, with a pressed bisque socket head, blue paperweight eyes and a brown human hair wig on a fully jointed composition body brought $22,515 from a couple in the gallery who really wanted something that had belonged to Wright. The doll was signed and wore a cotton dress with a silk bonnet, a watch and a lacy parasol with the label of Paris retailer Au Nain Blue.
A Jumeau bebe, circa 1880, with a pressed bisque socket head, brown paperweight eyes, painted facial features and the original blonde mohair wig on a fully jointed body with bisque lower arms sold for $18,960. The doll was dressed in the original green silk and lace dress with the original undergarments.
German dolls by Kammer and Reinhardt included a 109 “Elise” character doll, circa 1910, with a bisque socket head and painted blue eyes, a closed mouth and a blonde mohair wig, which attracted $22,515. A Kammer and Reinhardt 107 “Carl” character doll, also circa 1910, with a bisque socket head, painted brown eyes, a light brown mohair wig and dressed in a white cotton suit sold online for $21,330. Both dolls had closed mouths and somewhat wistful countenances.
A German Armand Marseille Scottish boy, circa 1910, was 19 inches tall and had blue painted eyes, a closed mouth with two upper teeth, a blonde mohair wig and wore a Royal Stewart kilt and scarf, a sporran and a Glengarry cap. He fetched $16,590. Another German Scots kilted boy was a 16½-inch Kammer and Reinhardt 112 in a kilt, with a bisque socket head and a blond mohair wig; it realized $9,480.
The torso of a German wooden doll was carved from a single piece of wood by an unknown hand, probably in the Oberammergau, Bavaria, circa 1790‱800. The body was fully jointed with mortise and tenon joining. The 32-inch doll was dressed in a red and white cotton plaid dress and was accompanied by a fairly extensive wardrobe of period clothing. She fetched $16,590 against the estimated $50/70,000.
A German Kestner character girl, circa 1910, with a bisque head, a mohair wig and a painted face on a fully jointed composition body sold for $37,920. The doll wore a pink cotton check dress and a pink ribbon in her hair.
Made around 1820, a German carved wood portrait doll, with a painted gesso head over carved wood, with finely carved and painted hair dressed with a large painted and gilded removable comb, attracted $31,995 from a phone buyer. The doll was dressed in the original printed cotton dress with undergarments. A catalog note revealed that Wright is thought to have acquired the doll by private treaty sale at Sotheby’s in London in the 1980s and that the 34-inch doll may have been commissioned by a Dutch royal figure.
A Simon & Halbig smiling character doll, #1388, made in Germany in about 1910, had a bisque socket head, brown glass eyes with Wimpern upper lashes, a smiling mouth with molded teeth and an auburn wig. Dressed in the original silk crepe dress with brown leather shoes, the doll brought $21,330.
An Armand Marseille character girl doll, circa 1910, with a bisque socket head, painted blue intaglio eyes with molded lids, a blond human hair wig and wearing a black and white check coat and matching toque sold online for $15,405.
A Steiff Petsy teddy bear, circa 1930, of beige mohair with auburn tips, blue glass eyes and a squeaker realized $16,590. A circa 1920 Steiff white mohair teddy bear with brown glass eyes brought $10,665. Both bears retained the “f” button and had stitched noses, mouths and claws with felt pads.
Wright began collecting dolls as a youngster, the son of furniture dealers, with a mother who collected dolls. He had a very good eye and esoteric tastes. The combination made for an outstanding collection categorized as Eighteenth Century English and German wood dolls; Nineteenth Century wood dolls; papier mache, glazed porcelain, bisque and cloth. He built a very successful antiques business and gained the respect of fellow dealers and collectors alike. Shopping bags from Wright’s gallery impressed with his distinctive logo were an added bonus for successful bidders to pack up their objects.
All prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, www.skinnerinc.com or 508-970-3000.
