Featured Wooden dolls

Hello to everyone,

Just came back from the folk art exhibition. What attracted my attention is a few wood carved and painted dolls. They are in old Ukrainian outfits. Decided to show them to you.

 

Thanks Natasha.
I know Ukrainian folk jewellery includes stunning coral necklaces. Is that what the red bands on the dolls are?
And just curious, from another coral jewellery wearing country, is the coral used in Ukraine from the Mediterranean?
A picture of a Dutch coral necklace, this one is from the southwest of The Netherlands:

 

Yes, Any Jewelry, you are right. The red bands on the dolls are coral necklaces. It was a must for every Ukrainian woman to have corals. Besides being jewelry it told about financial situation of the family. The more strains, the welthier the family was. Traditionally, Godfather gave the first strain of corals to his Goddaughter for her first birthday. Later, each year she got another one.
During the Soviets it was not allowed to wear it but now it is very popular and a lot of women have it. I also have an old (XIX century) coral necklace without clasp. Ols necklaces did not mak clasps. See the photo below. In some areas wealthy girls added coins to necklaces (called dukachi). Mine is very modest in comparison with the second one.
And yes, the corals are from the Mediterranian.
I did not know corals necklaces are also traditional in the Netherlands. The picture is beautiful and she has an unusual decoration on her head. What is that?

 

Nice story about how the necklaces 'grow' as you get older. And I still think your necklace is beautiful.
Coral necklaces were a must in many parts of The Netherlands. They are considered to be good against anemia, so good for many women.
Tomorrow I will take a picture of a coral and gold necklace that came down through my family.
The decoration on the girls head is called 'oorijzer'. It goes around the head and is used to secure the hat so it isn't blown away in those strong coastal winds. The metal has holes for gold pins that also pass through the lace hat. The gold screws are part of the oorijzer, the cloverleaf shapes are pendants called 'mutsebellen'.
Different areas have different styles, this is like the one the girl is wearing, but with a different decoration:

Here is one from the north of the country:

 

The dolls are really cute too; I've never seen that style before. The hat the lady is wearing is interesting too. What are the flowers made from?

 

I love these posts! I had no idea that coral jewelry was a traditional decoration in parts of Europe. Thank you Natasha and Any Jewelry!
Don

 

Old Ukrainian headdresses are very special. The one you ask about is made of beads, the flowers are made of starched fabric.
A couple years ago I had an order from one of Canadian museums. They wanted to have an old bridal headdress from Western Ukraine. I found an old lady, the only one who could make me such a headdress. When I visited her, I was stunned. Being a Ukrainian myself I never saw anything like that. The bridal headdress was made of........ goose down. See the photo below.

 

Speechless......am in awe of such skill.

 

Here is a picture of my coral and gold heirloom necklace:

It dates from the 1840's, but has been restrung in the 1970's. It was made in the southwest of The Netherlands, but no one knows of a family connection with that part of the country. The husband of the first owner traveled a lot for his job, maybe he bought it for her. As you can see, the beads are a smaller size than the girl is wearing, not unusual for the period.
The earrings are late nineteenth century.
Below is another antique traditional necklace, more modest. In the centre is an antique 'mutsebel', a pendant to hang from the 'oorijzer', the silver/gold band underneath a lace cap. Both are coral and gold.
All coral is Mediterranean. Like in Ukraine, we grow up with coral and the feel and look of it. My grandmother gave me my first coral brooch, another heirloom, when I was a little girl.

 

In BOTH instances, hold onto your hat, while I wipe the drool away.............don't want to soak the goods.........they are STUNNING!!!!!

 

Thanks, I've locked them away again, so they are well protected against drool.
Dutch traditional jewellery is stunning, with distinct regional differences, usually with gorgeous filigree as well. Which is why I always protest when people on the forum say that most filigree is Southern European, hey, what about us!!
But you don't see much of our regional jewellery outside The Netherlands. Foreigners tend to focus on a specific costume worn by wedding visitors in Volendam, with the well known 'Dutch hat'. Volendam is a fishing village, known here for its very simple costume and jewellery. Although they too have stunning coral necklaces, with miniature paintings of fishing boats in the gold filigree clasp:

http://www.schildervlugt.nl/bloedkoraal/

 

Interesting..... in your place corals are combined with gold and necklaces have exquisite clasps. Was it a part of village costumes or it was meant for nobility?
In Ukraine corals were combined only with silver coins and there was no clasp on old necklaces. It was considered to be jewelry for wealthy village girls.

 

They were part of village costumes. Townspeople would generally wear the fashion of the time.
In The Netherlands nobility wasn't all that important, some regions were even ruled by a council of family representatives, that custom still exists for some matters.
We were also the first modern republic, after we gained independence from Spain in the 16th century. After the French occupation under Napoleon, the other European countries imposed royalty on us, because they thought a republic on their borders could only mean problems.

Below is a choir of fishermen's wives from the village of Scheveningen. The elderly women still wear traditional dress, including jewellery, daily. Note the matching gold-rimmed glasses. The younger ones only wear it when they have to perform with the choir, or on special occasions.
Most of these necklaces are garnets and gold, garnets were often worn to show a late stage of mourning. There were various stages of mourning, extending over years, with various restrictions to the colours they could wear.
I love the pastel colours of their shawls, inspired by the sea.

This is what the gold filigree ends of their 'oorijzers' with gold pins look like:

 

I just LOVE the history lesson we always get when you explain something, AJ!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Aquitaine, thanks, here's one for you.
It's just the bigger picture that always comes in when I look at something. I can't help it, I was born that way.

 

Fascinating and definitely drool worthy jewelry!

 

Fascinating post and jewellery showed!
Any Jewelry, your necklace made me drool
I highly appreciated all the pics you showed too, thanks