Austin Doll Collectors Society: January 6, 2014, Meeting

In honor of the New Year, greeted by the popping of champagne corks, Sharon Weintraub did a program on "nippers," bisque and china novelty bottles made to hold a "nip" of alcohol. These bottles were often given away as promotional items, gifts, prizes, or souvenirs. Most nippers were imported empty from Germany and were then filled and given away as gifts by bars, liquor stores, at dances or fairs, or by fraternal groups or other organizations. It is not unusual to find a bottle with a paper label containing the name and address of a bar or liquor store. Some rare nippers were specially designed for specific hotel or bar. Most of the bottles had comic themes, but also, perhaps to appeal to the male clientele the bottles were most certainly marketed to, many featured lovely ladies or ribald humor. Some of the most sought naughty nippers are those featuring bathing beauties.

The vast majority of nippers were made by the company of Schafer and Vater, a firm known for its creativity, productivity, high-quality, and humor. Founded in 1890 in Germany, by Gustav Schafer and Gunther Vater, the company's mark is a "R" contained in a starburst, topped by a three-pointed crown. The "R" stands for Rudolstadt, the city where the factory was located. These blue and white nippers featuring bathing belles are a type of jasperware often used by Schafer. Unlike the jasperware produced by Wedgwood, in which the white portion is molded separately and then added to the colored background, Schafer cleverly figured out a way to produce the same effect in a single mold, by careful use of blue and white slip. Often Schafer produced the same bottle in jasperware, colored bisque, or in a brown or blue glaze, as well as in different sizes.

Nippers were made in a variety of sizes. The four bottles in the background are nippers by Schafer, while the littler nipper in the front is from the German firm of Hertwig and Company.

The original "September Morn," now in the collection of the New York Museum of Metropolitan Art, was painted in 1912 by French artist Paul Chabas, and was once one of the best known and most reproduced paintings in the United States. After it was exhibited in the Paris Salon, where it won the Medal of Honor, the painting traveled to a gallery in Chicago, where it was displayed in the window of a local art store. The city charged the store owner with violating a city ordinance barring the display of lewd pictures. The ensuing trial and acquittal of the owner brought the painting to public attention. Subsequently, the picture journeyed to New York City, where, again on display in a gallery window, Ms. Morn caught the censorious eye of Anthony Comstock, leader of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Reportedly, an outraged Comstock charged into the gallery, declaring that there was "too little morn and too much maid!" After the gallery refused to remove the painting from display, Comstock threatened legal action, but never followed through. Surrounded by scandal, Ms. Morn became part of popular culture, reproduced on anything from fine art prints to cheap stick pins. This blue-glazed bottle from Schafer parodies the public's reaction to Ms. Morn.

In addition to her nippers, in honor of the New Year, Sharon brought examples of a series of underdressed bisque belles literally sitting high on the hog. In Germany, the pig is a sign of good luck and prosperity. A person who is lucky will say "Ich Habe Schwein Gehabt" (I have had pig). It is traditional to give gifts of candy or marzipan pigs known as glücksschweinchen (good luck pigs) around Christmas. There are also a variety of antique New Year's postcards picturing a pretty miss on the top of a ponderous porker. Considering these ladies are dressed only in their chemises and stockings, instead of "good luck" pigs, these could be called "get lucky" pigs.