Acomposition doll is adoll made partially or wholly out ofcomposition, acomposite material composed of sawdust, glue, and other materials such as cornstarch, resin and wood flour.[1] The first composition dolls were made in the 19th century.
Composite dolls were marketed as unbreakable, compared to earlier more fragile dolls.[2] However, over time the composite material deteriorated, leaving many older dolls with small cracks and flaked surfaces.[3] Some dolls were given a protective coating of varnish to delay deterioration.[4]
Notable composition dolls includeBleuette of France,Marilú of Argentina andMariquita Pérez of Spain.
Many antique German and Frenchbisque dolls from the 19th century combine a bisque head with aball-jointed body made of composition.[5][6] In 1877 FrenchdollmakerJumeau introduced theBébé Incassable, with a bisque head portraying a young girl and a fully articulated composition body. With realistic glass eyes and contemporary fashion styles, thousands of Bébé dolls were produced for an international market. The FrenchBleuette doll fromS.F.B.J. has a jointed composition body with a bisque or composition head. The composition Bleuette was produced from 1905 to 1958.
In the United States composition dolls were hailed as an improvement in doll making from the fragilebisque and china material previously used. Two types of composition manufacturing processes were used:cold press andhot press. The cold-press composition manufacturing process was invented by Solomon D. Hoffmann in the 1890s. Hot-press composition began around 1920 and was an improvement in the processing.[2] Horsman secured the rights from Hoffmann, whose company was theAmerican Doll Company.
Some earlycelebrity dolls were made of composition, like theBaby Peggy doll fromLouis Amberg & Sons, which was a success in 1923. The AmericanIdeal Toy Company began making composition dolls in 1907. They produced over 200 variations of dolls throughout the composition era.[2] TheirShirley Temple doll was one of the most successful celebrity dolls. First produced in 1934, millions of the composition Shirley dolls were produced. Composition doll manufacturing lasted until the late 1940s in the U.S., when plastic began to be used for dolls.[2]
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