A doll is a reproduction of a human figure. Dolls count as one of the oldest and most beloved children’s toys, but they are also popular as collectables and decorative objects. Dolls were being fashioned as long ago as in ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and Rome. We are not certain whether such dolls were meant as toys or whether they served cult purposes. But we do know that all these cultures had children who played with dolls made of various materials.
With industrialisation, which had been immediately preceded by the discovery of childhood in the Romantic and Biedermeier periods, in the 19th century the art of doll-making reached a peak. All kinds of materials were used like porcelain, rubber, wax, tin, composites, and celluloid. And the doll became a generally popular object. The exhibition shows a wide range of emotionally appealing examples from the world of dolls: German and French porcelain and celluloid dolls, Italian felt dolls, Käthe Kruse dolls from the end of the 19th century to the mid-20th century.
