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'Girl with slipper' bisque (parian) around 1880's
A mid to late Victorian hand-painted bisque figure of a little girl who is trying on a pair of  slippers which are too big for her.  This is typical of the Victorian taste, simple, everyday scenes which all could relate to.
Developed by English potters in the 1840's, bisque was a liquid 'slip' (a runny clay mixture) which was cast in Plaster of Paris moulds. Bisque (or Parian as it is sometimes called), became very popular as it enabled finer details to be executed. It was soon copied by the Germans, and, that country quickly commanded the market, perfecting the production and producing a product of superior quality. A number of German companies, the foremost being Conta and Boehme but also Heubach, Bing and Grondhal, Goldschneider, Rosenthal all started exporting figurines to England, America, Australia and other countries.
Middle-class Victorian families loved 'clutter'. Figures and other ornaments by the dozen lined their shelves, tables, display cabinets and sideboards.
It is always difficult to accurately date these figures as there are no makers' marks nor numbers to go by. However, from the style, the 'Girl with slipper' would definitely be of German origin, I would guess somewhere in the 1880's at the latest and possibly produced by either Hertwig or Heubach, both companies favoring the more subtle colors. The 'Girl with slipper' is in a light green dress.
And, the Germans were prudent when it came to painting the figures. Invariably, on these less expensive pieces, they only painted what you could see, and, consequently, no paint is found on the back!
