"THE GRAVE DOLL"

C. 1860

GRACIOUSLY DONATED TO MY COLLECTION

BY THE AUTHOR OF the WONDERFUL BOOK    

"MOURNING ART & JEWELRY"

MAUREEN DELORME

                          RARE WAX EFFIGY OF A DECEASED INFANT.

Popular memorials among German and French immigrants to America for

children who died. These were normally left at the Gravesite, few have

survived

BECAUSE SO FEW SURVIVED DETERIORATION FROM THE

ELEMENTS,  EXTANT EXAMPLES OF “GRAVE DOLLS” ARE RARELY FOUND TODAY OUTSIDE OF MUSEUMS.

 THE GRAVE DOLL EXHIBITED HERE SHOWS A RARE EFFIGY,

ORIGINALLY FROM A GERMAN IMMIGRANT FAMILY WHO

SETTLED IN NEW YORK STATE IN THE MID 19TH CENTURY. THE DOLL IS APPROXIMATELY THAT OF A NEWBORN IN SIZE, AND LAID IN A HOMEMADE WOODEN “COFFIN” PAINTED BLUE.

LOCKS OF THE REAL DECEASED BABY’S BLONDE HAIR WERE GLUED TO THE GRAVE DOLL’S HEAD

THE CHRISTENING CLOTHING WAS CUT DOWN AND FASHIONED TO THE  EFFIGY, WHICH LAYS UPON A SMALL HANDMADE

PILLOW, SURROUNDED BY LINEN FLOWERS