I 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 any case, I think they're petty wonderful, I'd guess made using a template, but each individually drawn and painted, with individualized faces, and beauty marks! And on the back of each is a tab for standing them up, which work brilliantly. I would find some sort of gilded surface to arrange them on, and put on some Bach to accompany moving them around!
Paper dolls are about 5 3/4" tall and in very good condition.
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