Porcelain scent bottle depicting a sitting Kewpie doll

Porcelain scent bottle depicting a sitting Kewpie doll. Gilt metal crown top. These models are attributed to the Heinz porcelain factory. Kewpie is a brand of dolls and figurines that were conceived as comic strip characters by cartoonist Rose O’Neill from 1909. The characters were first produced as bisque dolls in Waltershausen, Germany, beginning in 1912, and became extremely popular in the early 20th century. J.D. Kestner, a German toy company located in Waltershausen, set forth to manufacture small bisque dolls of the Kewpies. From 1914 the Kewpies also appeared as a brand on a multitude of household items and other memorabilia, such as dishware, rattles, soap, pepper shakers, perfume bottle, coloring books, poetry collections, and stationery.