Dark and Moody Early Tintype of Two China Dolls and their Bed heirloom 12 x 4“ x 1/2”

12 x 4“ x 1/2” painted on plywood

with a wonderful ambiguity of scale

though it dates from the mid- to late 20th century

as seems just right

tethered by wire

Dark and Moody Early Tintype of Two China Dolls and their Bed heirloom 12 x 4“ x 1/2”Doesn't get much moodier than this one, feeling almost like a post mortem of these two dolls! Early photographs of girls with their dolls are not too hard to come by, but much rarer to find portraits of dolls alone, and here a pair, both with painted porcelain heads and porcelain arms, but slightly different from one another (I'd call the one at left the older sister!) And with what looks like a doll bed behind them, which they are leaning up against.