Posted 9 years ago
bredlo
(1 item)
My great-grandparents acquired these "foo dogs" most likely between the 1920s and 1950s. That's as far back as we can confirm their time in our possession.
After just seeing a similar, large pair on the Antiques Roadshow dating to the late 1800s, I thought I'd take a closer look at ours.
They are 12.5" high, with no significant markings to speak of (China may be stamped on the wood base), and my guess after looking at many similar ones on eBay is they were created for the souvenir market. The baby climbing the mother's leg seems like an unusual treatment compared to most others online.
I'd love to know what you guys think of them in general. We don't have a sense of their value or specific age.
yes there were several versions of the foo dogs and in different colours, with the blue being the most common. The latter 20th Century ones were made in different heights too...
The best way to see if you've go something precious is the quality of design and the workmanship on both the dogs face and their back or the spine area.
My Aunt had the 1930's reincanation, similar to yours.
There have been some further good releases in the 1960's and then from this time further on to now, some absolute shockers produced, still in China but with no art or expertise at all, just factory shipped and awful.
I'm so glad too that you've kept them. I was writing a letter to a friend today on just this topic of how sad it is when you see younger relatives flogging off the items that their parents, grandparents, aunties etc spent so much time effort and most likely money in collecting. But you can't force good taste and quality on those who see it as a Mill Stone....
Thanks for sharing.
I believe your appraisal is right, good work.