Characteristics
A typical china doll has a shoulder head made of glazed whitish porcelain, with painted molded hair and facial features. The glaze gives the doll a characteristic glossy appearance. The head is typically attached to a body made of cloth or leather, sometimes with arms and legs made of porcelain. Some early china head dolls were placed on peg jointed wooden bodies. China doll parts were also sold for the customer to fashion a body and clothing. Some cloth bodied china dolls could be more than 30" (76 cm) tall, and others as small as 3" (7.5 cm). Some china dolls, like the "Frozen Charlotte dolls", were made entirely out of porcelain, with head and body made in one piece without any articulation. The Frozen Charlotte dolls range in size from 2.5 cm (1 inch) in height up to 46 cm (18 inches).
Rare and elaborately decorated antique china dolls can have value on the collectors market. Most china dolls are unmarked or marked with only a size number. Alt, Beck and Gottschalck dolls will sometimes have a size and model number. Rorstrand dolls usually are marked with a model letter and size number on the bottom front of the shoulder plate. KPM, Meissen, and Royal Copenhagen products will bear company markings.
Parian dolls are similar to china dolls in that their heads are made of untinted porcelain, but they are unglazed with a matte finish. They are found on similar body types. They were also mainly made in Germany, from around 1860s to 1890s.
Read more about this topic: China Doll