Vintage doll 1960s

Ive come across this vintage doll in my mothers things and i know exactly nothing about it. the only information i have is her name "snow queen", she was made in japan, and she is entirely cloth/canvas. does anyone have information on this doll? even the characters would help.

 

 

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rambelin/7052633479/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rambelin/6906543028/

Apologies for the late reply to this post as I'm just now seeing this.

 

*looks at the pictures*

Wow, you have a real gem here: I also have a Snow Queen, but it's not as nice as the one shown in the pictures.

 

This type of Japanese doll was popular from the 1950s-1970s and is called a Sakura doll. These are made with what's called a mask: the silk face is stretched over a cotton form that's filled with straw and sawdust over an armature. If you frequent antique stores, you'll often run into these types of dolls...usually in various states of disrepair. Once damaged, there's no way of fixing them.

 

Snow Queen: Most of the Sakura dolls made revolved around the subject matter of Kabuki theater. You often see dolls depicted from the Fujimusume and Dojoji plays. Not so sure about origins this one, other than the fact that there's a Spring Queen in a cherry blossom brocade kimono to go along with her.

Often, these dolls were made by a company called Nishi, which is no longer around, and they have the stickers either on the base or under the base. Yours is special since it comes with a chop. (The nameplate which has the name of the doll and often who made it.) Also, most of them have wigs that are attached with pins whereas yours has rooted hair. These tell me that you have an artist doll, perhaps from the Tokyo Doll School. (Also no longer around.) Tokyo Doll School not only sold kits to make these dolls, they also printed english language books with patterns!

 

This doll is beautiful!