Baronne Sandra Bellings Arab Man with Musical Instrument and Woman with Baby

9″ 1940’s Cloth Arab Couple from Damascus, Syria. Dolls were created by  Baronne Sandra Belling ,who according to an article in the 1940’s Kimport’s Doll Talk Magazine, was  a Russian Noblewoman who made court dolls during the time of Czarist Russia. After the Russian Revolution she resettled in Damascus, Syria where she taught ballet and doll making to the wealthy families in the city. She would later begin making her own dolls with the help of local Syrian women. The main theme for these dolls was to represent the peoples of Syria and other countries of the Middle Eastern.  According to the article, Ms. Belling modeled the faces, then covered with stockinette,and finished by painting the features. She would then give the dolls to the local women to costume. I purchased the dolls in 2009 from a seller in New York City, New York.