On January 11-12 the specialist doll auction firm Theriault’s will be offering the collection of an American heiress, the late Huguette Clark.

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Anne Crane

The sale will be held in Santa Barbara to benefit the Bellosguardo Foundation which oversees the coastal property there bequeathed by Huguette as a future arts centre.

More than 400 dolls and automata will be on sale. Among them will be a 2ft (61cm) French bisque bébé by Emile Jumeau. Clark favoured dresses from Christian Dior and in the early 1960s she presented the Parisian couture house with a project to create exclusive costumes for her French bébé dolls.

This doll wears a four-piece silk Petit Prince costume which has a Christian Dior label to the jacket and to an additional jacket.

The estimate is $8000-11,000.