The AEAA is very proud to present this Exceptional & Rare antique German Conte Boehme virgin bisque prone, little boy and his loving Pug dog. Circa 1890's - 1910's. Our pair feature realistic flesh tones, and outstanding hand painted facials (boy & Pug), and nightgown colors. This flat bottom pair features a fine old style press mold (hidden tiny weep hole), dating it to the 1890s-1905. Our treasure weighs 10 oz., measures 7.5 x 3 x 3.25 inches tall, and is in great condition. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Most well-decorated Victorian parlors of Germany and England during the late 1800s and early 1900s, had pianos draped with shawls. Something decorative was needed to hold those fabrics in place. From that necessity, piano babies were born. Piano babies were bisque unglazed or matte glazed porcelain, flat based infants created to decorate pianos in the latter Victorian era. Most popular in the late 1880s to 1890s, they were made by giants of the German porcelain industry such as Gebruder Heubach and Carl Schneider. The craze began to subside in the first decade of the 1900s, but firms still made exceptional examples up until the time of the First World War, then continued from ca. 1920 to 1926 (the Great European Depression). Subsequently, the Japanese picked up the mantle, in the late 1920s, producing their brand of piano babies until WW II. Piano Babies were oddly popular in the late 1800s as decorations for pianos. A question might be, what the heck does a chubby bisque baby have to do with pianos or music? In any event, these sweet chubby babies, clothed or unclothed, sat on the end of the piano as decoration and to hold down the fabric usually found decorating grand pianos in homes. Piano Babies ranged in size from about 4 inches to 16 inches long, were generally un-jointed to avoid any falling parts. As a number of long established German doll Factories were already producing fine decorated porcelain examples, it followed that potting fine piano babies wasn’t difficult, and allowed for a major expansion of both foreign & domestic markets.

XA- DB81C - excellent condition