Is this small old clay? figure with cloth & fur some type of funeral effigy? Looks like a child

[pipilo02]

This small piece measures 2 1/2" long and has remnants of cloth and fur attached to it.  It's hard to touch and has surface damage on head and toes exposing what looks like old hardened clay.  The child has its arms folded across its chest. Any ideas what this is?  Thank you for your thoughts.   Front View with fabricHead damageBack view with furSize of piece

[sonomabarn67]

You're not really going to use those photos in your listing are you? They are lacking light and focus. I just pass on an item when the pics are that bad. You should retake them.

[maxine*j]

My impression is that it's a toy doll that's been buried among household trash for years. 

But an impression is all I can give you.  I downloaded your photos onto my own computer and worked with them with one of my photo editors but  could do nothing useful with the images.   Maybe someone with more time to spend will have better results.

Sorry.

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[micesco-0]

Your little doll appears to be some type of antique "Frozen Charlotte" or, primarily in the UK, a "pudding doll."

[smiling66]

Article about Frozen Charlotte dolls from Victorian-Era.

https://random-times.com/2018/06/17/frozen-charlotte-the-dolls-from-victorian-era-that-rest-in-coffi...

[sonomabarn67]

And for those that don't think dolls can be creepy, that group pic takes the cake.... or pudding.

[micesco-0]

hahaha To really sell it, you have to say it is "haunted" too. 🙂

[maxine*j]

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@sonomabarn67 wrote:

And for those that don't think dolls can be creepy, that group pic takes the cake.... or pudding.

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I think it is just hard for us to really understand how much death was a part of life in that era.  So much disease and sudden death, so many infant and child deaths.  The Victorians couldn't prevent most of it (although heaven knows they tried, with every sort of nostrum and apparatus) so they sort of embraced it, made it seem less terrible by surrounding it with ceremony and fashion, by (in some ways) romanticizing it.

Not that some of it doesn't give me the creeps, mind you, because it does;  but when I try to see it from the Victorian point of view, I do get it.

I know you know all that.  I'm just thinking out loud.

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[pipilo02]

If/when I try to sell her I'll take photos outside where theres a lot more light 

Those frozen Charlotte dolls are creepy but they're made of ceramic or porcelain and don't have any cloth or hair or fur.....unless its all worn off this one I think is clay and definitely has a piece of cloth attached along with what I think is old fur....don't know anything about her...she was in the bottom of a junk box I got at an auction...entirely possible she's been in the ground somewhere.  Thank you all for your usual great thoughts! 

[john_wade]

I wonder if it's a Ushabti, an ancient Egyptian funerary piece. A lot were bought off antiquities dealers and brought to the U.S. over the past 100 years. Hard to tell because it's so dark. They are usually a lot lighter color and almost always less than 6" long. An archaeologist at a University or museum could probably tell you. 

[sonomabarn67]

Not a good strategy. You have a number of helpers.... right now who have shown interest in helping you and all you have to do is take a set of better photos. Is there a great difficulty in doing that? Those helping you now may lose interest or forget all about this item.

[sonomabarn67]

Not ushabti figurine. Here is a link to a selection of ushabti figurines.