1940’s Cloth 10″ & 11″ Damascus Couple by Barronne Sandra Bellings and offered through Arouani Brothers of Damascus, Syria.
There is an interesting story about a similar couple belonging to the late Dr. Edna Geuffroy. Ms. Geuffroy, was a long time professor of geography at Illinios State University in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Ms. Geuffroy would later donate her large collection of dolls and doll journal to the university, which was displayed in the old Milner Library, (now renamed Williams Hall.) While a student at the university I became friends with Jean Sheppard and Gina Wright’ who were in charge of the doll collection in the 1970’s. I was allowed access to the collection and related materials. One source of information about the collection was provided in Ms. Geuffroy journal about her dolls. The journal provided the following information about her Damascus couple:
” From Damascus with its age-old fame for rich brocades, damask with lustrous sheen, and fine steel blades, came this hawk-nosed desert chieftan and his Bedouin wife. A Czarist refugee, sculpturesess and artist of the old regime in Russia conceived the idea of depicting the dark romantic figures of the Holy Land as lifelike dolls. ( Baronne Sandra Bellings).
The following notes on the people of Syria, particularly the Bedouins, were given to my mother by Mr. Fuad Saadeh, the young man from Damascus who sold these dolls at Marshall Fields (Chicago)… “It has only been within the past two years that dolls have been made in the Holy Land, due to the fact that anything that represented or suggested an idol was strictly forbidden. The mother carries her baby strapped to the back day and night, as the people live in open tents the year round and it is not safe to leave the baby on the ground for livestock have the run of the tents same as the people.
The tents are made of hand woven goat hair stretched over posts. Usually they are double tents, or have a partition through the center, and accommodated two families of perhaps ten to twenty persons each. They are a roving race and live in one place only so long as there is good grazing for their stock.
The women’s faces and chests are tatooed while they are young to make them more beautiful. The gold coins on the head represents her only possessions, for it is money she has saved from work she did before marriage and can not be taken from her. The men seldom work but sit around and pray, the women do what work is to be done. The custom of wearing veils is gradually being given up. These dolls represent some living persons.”
Ms. Geuffroy also noted the dolls were purchased February 28th, 1940 for $20.00. These type of dolls were also offered by Kimport Dolls and other doll import companies in the 1940’s. I would purchased my dolls in 2009 from a seller in Chicago, Illinois.
