["DOCTOR'S LADY"]: A HAND-CARVED FEMALE NUDE CHINESE MEDICIN DOLL OR FEMALE "DIA by ["DOCTOR'S LADY" CHINESE NUDE FEMALE DIAGNOSTIC FIGURE]

[China ca 1800]. Hand-carved nude Chinese female medical doll, 1.3 x 6.5 cm., black tinted hair style,the material is unidentified [could be bone ?], excellent example no issues. RARE & OBSCURE . *** **** *** . . TYPICAL QING PERIOD CHINESE HAND-CARVED MEDICINE DOLL . . . THIS IS AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF A VERY SMALL . . . NUDE CHINESE FEMALE FIGURE . . . COMMONLY CALLED "THE DOCTOR'S LADY" . * These kinds of Qing period examples remain RARE & OBSCURE today, commonly called "The Doctor's Lady," or "Female Diagonostic Figure." . The work was nicely carved with excellent proportions of a reclining nude woman with her left arm behind her head and her right arm across her stomach. Both wrists wear what appear to be jade or ivory bracelets. Her coiffeur is quite nicely carved showing individual strands of hear in a classical style, with black tinting. Her eyes are likewise tinted black, otherwise there are no other colors. . The carving has a variation of color on her back side, showing a difference of color from her neck, with both buttocks a slightly brighter color. . The left buttock has the artist's name carved as a Yinzhang [seal/chop] reading "Zheng Guang" ["Correct Light"] which is cited on our website as illus04.jpg. . *** HISTORIC BACKGROUND OF USE: . "OFTEN WHEN A WOMAN SAW a doctor in 18th-century China, she wasn’t allowed to actually see him. Instead, she sat behind a curtain or bamboo screen, where she had to map out her pain on a body that wasn’t her own. Her hand, or that of a close female attendant, would poke through the drapes or screen, and gesture toward the naked body of an ivory doll. If the patient had difficulty breathing, she might run a finger along the doll’s curved chest. For menstrual pain, the smooth abdomen. For a headache, the bump of a bun. After studying these cryptic communications, the doctor would issue his diagnosis. . In the final centuries of China’s Qing Dynasty, these intricately carved medicine dolls were an ailing woman’s only option, writes medical historian Howard Dittrick in his 1952 paper in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, "Chinese Medicine Dolls." Quoted from SABRINA IMBLER, an article in ATLAS OBSCURA cited below. . "Chinese diagnostic dolls depict a reclining woman, usually naked save for a pair of bangles around her wrists and the occasional fan." . "Upper-class women might bring their own beautiful, customized dolls to doctors, whereas poorer women had to make do with the doctor’s own, more rudimentary, model. The more luxurious dolls such as the intricate Ming Dynasty doll shown above on a blue blanket reclined on miniature couches, some of which even featured silk cushions or embroidered throws. To remove the final layer of interpersonal contact, wealthier ladies simply marked the afflicted parts of the doll with India ink or charcoal, and then sent the doll to the doctor via messenger." The above generously quoted from the ATLAS OBSCURA. . *** Color scans of this and most other items are posted to our website. . *** CONDITION: The carving is expertly done, without any marks, damages or other distractions. By and large a fine and RARE example! . *** REFERENCES: . WALLNOFER, Heinrich. et al.: CHINESE FOLK MEDICINE AND ACUPUNCTURE. . WELLCOME HISTORICAL MEDICAL MUSEUM & LIBRARY. CHINESE MEDICINE: An Exhibition Illustrating the Traditional System of Medicine of the Chinese People, text about "DOCTOR'S LADY" see p.12, and plate numbers: 25 & 27. * WALLNOFER, Heinrich. et al.: CHINESE FOLK MEDICINE AND ACUPUNCTURE. * Joshua Forer, Dylan Thuras & Ella Morton: ATLAS OBSCURA. * HUARD, Pierre. et al.:CHINESE MEDICINE. --. LA MEDECINE CHINOISE AU COURS DES SIECLES. * https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/chinese-medical-doll . * .