Handmade Ink and Watercolor French Courtiers and Flower Sellers Paper Dolls taxco silver overlay bottle 11" corner to corner

11" corner to corner

I love the long handle of this old wooden spoon or ladle

with some foxing to the upper right corner especially

A little paint loss around the edges and sides as pictured

and minor bends to the bottom corners

Handmade Ink and Watercolor French Courtiers and Flower Sellers Paper Dolls taxco silver overlay bottle 11" corner to cornerI take these hand drawn and watercolored paper dolls as representing French courtiers and flower sellers from the era of Louis XIV or so, though I am not entirely sure when they were made and whether a specific purpose; the level of execution is rather above and beyond that of paper dolls made by or for a child to play with! Perhaps they were background characters in an elaborate puppet show? Or made as part of a maquette for an opera set design? In