The world of antique dolls has its own masterpieces and legends.

Bru Jne French dolls - almost a pipe dream for many collectors - are too rare and expensive.

The history of the company and its founder - Leon Casimir Bru (Leon casimir bru) Is a kind of mirror of the "golden age" of French dolls, full of amazing beauty, creativity, ingenuity, at times devoid of commercial ambitions for the sake of achieving an ideal.

The man who created the most luxurious dolls for French aristocrats was born in the small provincial town of Corday (Cordes) in the weaver's family Jean and Rosalie Bru... The laws of the "Second Empire" made it possible for anyone with a desire, and most importantly, an idea, to try themselves in business. Leon Bru was the third son in the family. Armed with youthful enthusiasm and ambition, a twenty-year-old boy, with no money in his pocket, sets out to conquer Paris.

He inherited knowledge from his father.

Leon knew how to weave and was good at fabrics. He easily found a job as a buyer in a clothing factory and quickly reached a leadership position.

At 29, he marries a tailor's daughter  Apolin Comin... The girl sewed shrouds from the owner of the office, which provided transport for the funeral processions.

The young couple settled in a house that belonged to André and Marie Shotaram (Chautard), in the 50s of the 18th century, creating dolls. With no heirs, the Shotars offered Leon to go into the doll business, promising financial aid.

According to the sources, on February 1, 1867, Leon Bru and a certain "unnamed partner" (probably André Schotard) founded a partnership for the production of dolls "Bru Juene et Cie"

Literally a few years later, Leon Casimir Bru not only fully paid off with his benefactor, but was also able to share the profit with him.

The first dolls of the newly-made company were the so-called “fashion” dolls (“poupee”), with heads made of bisque china, rubber, or hard paste. Brue ordered biscuit heads from the best Parisian manufacturer Eugene Borroi, who produced his products without marking, or with the initials EB

Brue understood the need to highlight his products and agreed with Borroi to label the heads he ordered with the name of his company “B. Jne et Cie "or" BJ "on the back of the doll's shoulder plate.

The bodies of the first dolls were leather or fabric and were stuffed with cork and small sawdust. The heads were attached to the body with threads. The clothes were not removable, they were sewn directly onto the doll. Wigs and costumes were of different quality and value according to the wishes of the customer.

In 1869, the factory began to make fashionable dolls with wooden bodies with hinges at the waist, elbows, knees, wrists and ankles.

Nobody has ever made articulated bodies for “fashionable” dolls with so many hinges.

The dolls were very beautiful and graceful. Their costumes were distinguished by their sophistication and good cut. They were in great demand among the Parisian aristocrats.

However, Bru did not replicate his dolls and fill the market. The master chose to develop new models.

In 1868, he received a patent for a fashionable surprise doll with two faces (sleeping and smiling).

Then Leon created a model of a floating lady, as well as a doll with a musical mechanism inside.

But one of the most famous dolls of this period was the “smiling Bru”, patented in August 1873.

Some collectors call her “Mona Lisa” because of her enigmatic half-smile.

It is believed that Empress Eugenia, wife of Napoleon III, served as the model for this doll.

The second version of the prototype is a smiling angel over the front door of the 13th century cathedral in Reims.

In 1878, Leon Casimir Bru received a silver medal at an exhibition in Paris for his "fashionable" dolls, losing the gold medal to Emile Jumeau with his "Bebe".

Bru notices that tastes in the puppet world are beginning to change. At the peak of popularity were dolls of a completely new type - "Bebe", "children" dolls. Appearing in about 1876, the doll of a new type, with the proportions of a child, responded to the new trends of the era.

This was the time of the penetration of Eastern culture into the West. Admirers got acquainted with the centuries-old tradition of Japanese dolls that outwardly resembled a child. German and French companies began to create such dolls in 1851, when they first saw them at an exhibition in London.

Bru has developed new patterns for leather bodies, with different proportions, close to those of a child. (1: 5, the ratio of the height of the doll to the height of its head, instead of the “adult” ratio of 1: 7 for the “fashionable” dolls).

A new type of leather body was patented by Bru in 1879 and was called “Bebe Brevete.

The earliest version of such a body still repeated the ladies' hourglass silhouette, but, already in 1880, the body underwent significant changes: the waist expanded, the chest and shoulders narrowed, the torso acquired a pear-shaped shape, and three central seams on the back gently formed the rounded buttocks.

The biscuit porcelain shoulder part began to be attached to the torso with a leather strip with a figured cut on one edge, and the lower parts of the arms from the elbow also became biscuit. These pens, with beautifully designed fingers, are a real fetish for collectors, as they are made to the highest level. Defects or finger replacements are a serious loss, almost on par with head defects.

The new version of the body became the final one and was used for a long time for the production of not only “Bru Brevete”, but also the second generation “Bebe” dolls - “Circle and dot”. It is considered to be transitional between the first and third generation of Bebe bodies. There was a slight difference in the cut. The third generation of dolls have additional darts in front to give the silhouette a slenderness.

The original shape of the head of the new “Bebe” is what made the company famous and the doll the most expensive and coveted collectible doll today..

The very first heads of the “Bebe Brevete” were supposedly made by the sculptor Pierre Marie François Auguet, who lived nearby with Léon Bru. It is reliably known that the heads of the second generation dolls were created by one of the most famous sculptors of France - Ferdinand Barbedienne (1810-1892.)

In 1879, the “Bebe Modele” appears on a fully articulated wooden body with pivot joints.

The body was taken as a basis from a "fashionable" doll, adjusted to the child's proportions. All details have been perfectly matched.

The poses of the doll looked very natural. Although the factory produced such dolls for quite a long time, until 1883, not very many of them were made, due to the high cost and complex, lengthy manufacturing process.

The production of wooden "women of fashion" also continued. During this time, “Bebe Modele” has time to change three heads - “Bebe Brevete”, “Circle and Dot”, then an early version of the classic “Bru Jne”.

In October 1879 Bru received a patent for the “Bebe Teteur” or “nursing doll,” a bottle-fed “baby doll”.

The bottle was connected to an elastic tube, the end of which was inserted into the open mouth of the doll. Inside the head was an elastic reservoir in which fluid was collected.

A special screw was located at the back of the head, turning which, it was possible to empty the reservoir, and the water was poured back into the bottle.

In 1882, the model “Bebe Gourmand” (“gourmet”) was developed on the basis of this doll, with an open mouth and a movable tongue. She could be “fed” with dry food, such as cookies, or special toy food. "Food" fell into the tube inside the torso, passed right through and fell into the legs.

On the soles of the doll's shoes there were leather valves through which “food” could be reached.

Production of "Bebe Teteur" and "Bebe Gourmand" lasted until 1888. Now such dolls are very rare.

The head designed for these dolls turned out to be very successful. Used for simple dolls, without a mechanism inside. Holes in the mouth and on the back of the head were not cut, but the technical mark in the form of a circle with a dot (the place where the screw was attached) remained. Previously, it was believed that this is a kind of marking of the mold, so among collectors these dolls began to be called “Circle and Dot” (“circle and dot”).

But the most beautiful and perfect model, the production of which began in 1882, is undoubtedly the “Bru Jne”.

The leather body of the early dolls changed to a slender one, due to the grooves in front.

In 1883, the doll's arms became movable. The upper, a leather-covered metal base with a round wooden shoulder joint, was attached to the torso. The biscuit china bottom extended to the elbow, ending in a hinge with two holes on the sides.

Attaches to the upper arm with bolts.

In this way, the doll could bend the arms at the elbows very naturally. The new “Bebe” was marked on the back of the head with the words “Bru Jne” and a size number. The modeling of the face has changed, the doll began to look more mature.

Her special look, as if immersed in herself, excites collectors and lovers of beauty to this day.

Glass eyes with a very convex iris, the so-called “enamel” or “paperweight”, gave an extraordinary depth to the look. These eyes, the so-called "human eyes", were invented by Emile Jumeau in 1879. The crystal “dome” covered the iris and pupil, which gave the eyes volume and depth. They were produced at the Guepratte factory, which was previously engaged in the manufacture of artificial eye-prostheses for humans.

Such eyes were made in darkened workshops, often by young girls manipulating molten enamel rods.

The work was harmful, often the girls were partially and completely blind.

The end of the enamel rod was melted in the flame of a blowtorch, a piece was separated from it, again dipped into the flame and then flattened on a cooler.

The melted tip of a colored enamel rod was fixed in the center of the eye. Then, with careful movements, the color layer was mixed with the white base - this is how the iris was drawn. The colored area was covered with a transparent dome - and it seemed that the pupil was "hanging" over the iris, which achieved the effect of a "live" eye.

These eyes are truly mesmerizing

The third generation doll's face and articulated porcelain arms with hinges are the latest creation of Léon Bru.

At the height of his success, Bru decides to leave the business. There is no information left about the motives for such an act, there are suggestions that the creator and inventor by nature, Casimir Bru began to be weighed down by administrative red tape. When the opportunity presented itself to put his business in good hands, he used it.

Henri Chevreau not only retained the glory of Bru's name, but also glorified his own name.

He has faithfully adhered to the high level of quality and sophistication previously achieved by the founder. But that's a completely different story.

In the modern world, Bru dolls are works of art that are a cultural phenomenon.

Due to their extreme rarity and high cost, the art of replicas of these wonderful dolls is developing, some of which can compete with the price tag of rare antique dolls.

Today, there are few authors who can achieve the craftsmanship and sophistication of antique Bru dolls with their works. Among the recognized masters specializing in Bru replicas, the Japanese master Sayuri Sinn (USA) stands out.

Branca Charlie (craftswoman from Sweden)

Replicas of these authors are highly sought after by collectors and are genuine works of art.

The first time I saw a photo of Bru Jne, I was determined to learn how to make replicas at the highest possible level. Now I paint dolls, collect them, and create an outfit for them.

But in the future I would really like to master the manufacture of these dolls, observing all the old production technologies. And this: removing plaster molds from the original, making and firing porcelain castings, painting porcelain with special paints with stage-by-stage firing, sewing the body according to antique patterns.

I consider a replica a kind of portrait art, only instead of a person you make a portrait of an old doll.

The material was prepared by Yulia Lazunina.