Vntg Portrait Doll Porcelain Head/Composite Body Orginal Handmade by Mary Clark

  
Lovely, sculpted porcelain face doll that was modeled after a little girl name Sara Frye and designed by Mary Clark. She was then produced by the help of Dorothy Friedhoff. The back of her neck is impressed with the names of Dorothy and Sara and No 13, but oddly Mary's name is left out. She was found in Mary's estate though, so the doll had to have been of some significance to her. She is 20 inches tall and appears to have been a part of some kind of an exhibit or a show at one time based on the attached card. She has a head full of curly blonde hair and beautiful blue, stationary eyes with long lashes. The rest of her lifelike face is beautifully painted. Especially her rosie cheeks that make her look as if she just got in from the cold. And what a sweet outfit to have gone out in. A pastel blue bonnet with white lace to frame her curls and face. Made with the same material that her dress and jacket have. Both with lace trim and the dress has a gorgeous lace bib collar with tiny blue embroidered flowers. Her fair colored composite body matches the porcelain well. Her arms have joints, but most of their movements are limited to up and down of the total arms. The elbows do not move at all. The wrists can rotate some. I attempted to show changes in her positioning in the photos.

She can sit up on her own but cannot stand alone. Her hip and knee joints do move.

She comes with a modest slip and underwear beneath her dress. She also has knit, knee high socks.

Her faux leather white shoes are in great condition. The rest of the outfit is too.

The ribbon that ties around her neck from her bonnet is slightly worn, however. And you may want to restyle her hair a bit. But otherwise, I see no real faults. This is so much better than an everyday baby portrait in my opinion. Little Miss Sara needs a good home.

The artist of the doll, Mary Clark was the wife of a National WWII hero Arthur W. She passed away just 15 days shy of her 99th birthday in 2018 and a had a lifelong love of the arts. Not just including her love of her husband, Art, but of music, drama, painting and the like.

She was a well-rounded woman that was not only a mother, but a college graduate with a degree in music, and B. In Pre-Med, accepted into Law School at the University of North Carolina and received a master's degree at UNC's Department of dramatic Arts. She eventually became a teacher of future artists and a registered copyist at the National Gallery in Washington, where she was able to copy original treasured paintings. Many of the hundreds of portraits that she painted are hanging across the country and as far away a Brussels, Belgium.

She herself was a national treasure.