Welsh costume doll, Pembrokeshire Museums, D1

Description

This is one of a pair, male and female, both in a display case.
Costume: Tall hat, cap, gown, apron, skirt, separate sleeves, neckerchief, underskirt, chemise, stockings, shoes and holding knitting.
Body: Wooden head with rounded chest (gesso layered). Painted face with hair visible beneath cap. Earthenware lower arms and hands. Stuffed cloth upper legs and upper arms, gesso layered lower legs. There are still many pins holding the fabric in place, suggesting that it was never completed properly and could not have been used as a toy.
Hat: silk plush.
Cap: sprigged muslin
Height : 47cm (including hat and shoes)
Date: late 19th century but could be earlier except that the cuffs and trouser waistband tape on the male doll are machine stitched.
General observations: The doll has a brown gown with short tail but part of the tail is a slightly different fabric to that of the bodice and skirt. The plain colour of the gown, and the short 'tail' is typical of Pembrokeshire gowns. The fabric is weft faced linsey-wolsey.
The short sleeves of the gown have a piece of white fabric near the end but in adult costumes this is normally black. The end of the sleeves are not folded back (unlike short sleeves on adult gowns). This might be due to the fact that the fabric is too thick at this scale, but the sleeves of the jacket of the man in this pair have been folded.
Date: late 19th century? The cuffs and trouser waistband tape of the male doll are machine stitched.

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