A parian doll, sometimes mistakenly referred to as a Dresden doll, was a type of

doll A doll is a physical model, model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and ...

manufactured primarily in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, from around 1860 to 1880. A parian doll, like a

china doll A china doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of Ceramic glaze, glazed porcelain. The name comes from ''china'' being used to refer to the material porcelain. Colloquially the term ''china doll'' is sometimes used to refer to any porcelain o ...

, has a body made from

fabrics Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

and a head created from untinted white

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

. Unlike the china doll however, the parian doll's head is not dipped in glaze before firing and as such has a matte finish, similar to

bisque doll A bisque doll or porcelain doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of bisque or biscuit porcelain. Bisque dolls are characterized by their realistic, skin-like matte finish. They had their peak of popularity between 1860 and 1900 with French ...

s, giving it a markedly different appearance. The term ''parian'' refers to the appearance of the fine white

Parian marble Parian marble is a fine-grained semi translucent pure-white and entirely flawless marble quarried during the classical era on the Greek island of Paros in the Aegean Sea. It was highly prized by ancient Greeks for making sculptures. Some of the ...

of Paros, Greece. The UFDC (United Federation of Doll Clubs) accepted definition of these dolls is as follows: "Parian doll: doll made of fine white bisque (unglazed porcelain) without tinting. The features, hair and cheeks may be painted." Many collectors now are discarding the term parian in favor of untinted bisque versus tinted bisque. Parian dolls usually have molded blond hair. Brown and black haired parians are less common. Parians are often elaborately decorated with colored

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

scarves A scarf, plural ''scarves'', is a piece of fabric worn around the neck or head for warmth, sun protection, cleanliness, fashion, religious reasons, or used to show the support for a sports club or team. They can be made in a variety of differ ...

ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mater ...

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

jewels A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

, and luster ruffs (single, double, occasionally triple) about the bottom of the

yoke A yoke is a wooden beam sometimes used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, us ...

. The hair was arranged in interesting and elaborate ways. The eyes were painted or

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

. The glass-eyed dolls are sought after by collectors.Antiques Digest
/ref> The lead company in manufacturing these untinted bisque parian dolls was Alt Beck & Gottschalck. Other manufacturers include Conta & Boehme, Dornheim Koch & Fischer, Kister, Hertel Schwab & Co., C. F. Kling & Co., Simon & Halbig, Bahr & Proschild, and Hertwig among many others.Richter, Lydia, China, Parian & Bisque German Dolls, Hobby House Press, 1993

References

Dolls {{Doll-stub