Figure Two: Toy Soldiers


Figure 2.--A HBC reader has provided us this image. She writes, "This portrait looks to be a little girl in a dress. Her blond hair is parted on the side, in ringlets, with a white hair bow. What is unusual about this image is the props. On a table next to her are a set of toy solders, some on horses. The props, ringlets, and side part make me think this may be a boy." I am not sure what the child is holding.

A HBC reader has provided us this image. She writes, "This portrait looks to be a little girl in a dress. Her blond hair is parted on the side, in ringlets, with a white hair bow. What is unusual about this image is the props. On a table next to her are a set of toy solders, some on horses. The props, ringlets, and side part make me think this may be a boy." There is of course no way of knowing definitively. HBC believes, however, that the toy soldiers here are a very important clue. This reader is more difficult to assess than an initial glance suggests. Certainly the hairbow, ringlets, and white dress suggest a girl. Ufortunately there is no provinance associated with this portrait. All that we know for sure is that it is an American portrait. The portrait is undated, but we would guess the 1900s. Before we assess the clothing and props, it is first necessary to determine where the photograph was taken. The tables suggests a home, but the background it seems to us suggests that it is a studio portrait. We believe that this is important. We know that studios often had toys for the children to be used as props or to ebngage the children. We believe that it is very unlikely that a studio would have only had boy toys. This the toy soldiers suggest to us that the child here may be a boy. The child's facial characteristivs also seem boying. The clothing does suggest a girl, but here there are some qualigications. We know that in the 1900s that some younger boys still wore dresses. The child here looks to be about 5 years old. This is a bit old for a boy to wear a dress in the 1900s, but certainly not unthinkable. Note that the dress hre is rather a plain one. The hairbow and ringlets suggest a girl to us today, but in the 1900s were also worn by boys. The side part looks rather boyish. We note wearing the hair bow on the side of the head was more common for boys than girls, although a hair bow of this size was more common for girls. A HBC reader writes, "The child in the Toy soldier scene is not playing with them. The drawer is open suggesting that these are the interesting things. Supose its the horses that are the interest and not the military figures. This would then suggest a girl. Looks to me like a girl but you are the expert in noting the parting and the smile seems to be of a very happy child."







HBC





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Created: 3:13 AM 9/25/2004
Last updated: 6:19 AM 9/25/2004