For families that possess vintage kolu dolls, heirlooms are a matter of pride.
“We have dolls that are more than 100 years old, handmade from wood,” says 70-year-old TK Balakrishnan who, along with his wife, Usha, creates an annual display. “Known as Mysore bommai or Gowri bommai, these dolls were collected by my grandmother, Sundari Thirumurti, who was an art connoisseur,” says Balakrishnan.
The wooden Gowri bommai in their collection stands out not only for their age but also for their ingenious construction. Usha explains that the dolls can be dismantled, with the torso, head, hands, palms, thighs and legs separated, and reassembled. This allows them to be dressed as different gods.
When assessing vintage kolu dolls, the quality of the paint, workmanship, detailing, and size are examined.
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“We tried recreating them, but it was impossible to replicate the originals because of its craftsmanship. This year, we have used them to depict episodes from Krishna’s life, including Govardhana Giri, Raasa Leela and Thulabaram,” says Usha.
Their collection also includes Lakshmi and Saraswathi dolls in immaculate condition, both believed to be more than 100 years old, proving that their expansive collection is not just ancient but certainly valuable.
It hence becomes evident that for families who have inherited these dolls, preserving them is as important as displaying them. Their faded colours, worn surfaces, repaired limbs and carefully maintained costumes bear witness to years of use and affection.
Abhinav Vinayakh Shankarnarayanan, co-founder of Cherish Vintage Finds, states that the market value of these heirlooms has shot up over the last two years. Today, the vintage dolls he deals in are priced up to ₹40,000 as it has become more challenging to find heirloom dolls in a good condition with the original paintwork now. Meanwhile people are also beginning to value the high quality craftsmanship of the past.
A vintage standing Krishna kolu doll in the collection of Cherish Vintage Finds
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“Those who sell their family collections are not doing so to make money. They simply want to ensure that these precious treasures are preserved in someone else’s home. The buyers of these vintage dolls are often Indians settled abroad or South Indians living in other parts of the country,” says Abhinav.
Art curator Ashvin E Rajagopalan, founder of Ashvita’s Art Gallery, says he has been collecting Chennai-based cultural objects, including kolu dolls, and has archived more than 1,000 dolls so far. “Currently, we are only curating and archiving these handcrafted kolu dolls after restoring them at the conservation lab in our gallery. Three-dimensional kolu dolls inspired by Ravi Varma paintings are in great demand,” says Ashvin.
A vintage kolu doll restored and repainted at the ashvita art gallery
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He explains that when a kolu doll is sourced, he assesses it by examining the quality of the paint, the workmanship, the detailing and the size. Ashvin says that an art object is considered an antique if it is more than 100 years old, while an object that is more than 50 years old is classified as vintage. The age drives up the value, he adds.
Documenting the past
Kolu dolls bring together painting, printmaking and craft. The oleographs of Raja Ravi Varma helped popularise particular visual representations of deities providing inspiration for generations of doll makers.
This relationship between art and craft can be seen in the vintage dolls preserved at DakshinaChitra, the heritage museum in Chennai. The museum has an extensive collection of vintage kolu dolls donated by French photographer and writer Julie Wayne.
A vintage kolu doll at Dakshina Chitra Museum
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“Kolu dolls hold a particularly cherished place within our larger collection of toys and dolls from across South India. These dolls preserve remnants of older and rare doll-making traditions and allow us to share these miniatures with our visitors,” says Indu Mohan, the museum’s librarian.
Ravi Varma inspired vintage kolu dolls at Dakshinachitra heritage museum
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Among the figures in the collection are a mother-and-child figurine inspired Raja Ravi Varma, a depiction of Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha seated together as a family, and Vishnu riding Garuda, his celestial eagle, accompanied by his consorts, Sridevi and Bhudevi.
But the dolls tell stories beyond religion and mythology. Miniature wedding and music performance sets owned by 82-year-old Rajeswari Thiagarajan’s family, for instance, recreate aspects of social life, while figures of national leaders bring historical personalities into the domestic sphere.
“These days, you don’t find such finely defined features or such beautiful faces. Even the miniature sets have perfect finishes,” she adds.
Rajeswari Thiagarajan with her favorite Kolu doll which she says is over 80 years old.
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The survival of vintage kolu dolls depends not only on the artisans who made them but also on the families who continue to care for them.
Aruna Anand, wife of chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, says she enjoys setting out the vintage kolu dolls passed down to her by her mother, Rani Ananth, every year. “These dolls were used by my great-grandmother in our ancestral house in Chittur, Palakkad. My mother inherited some of these dolls, and later, my brother and I inherited them,” says Aruna.
Her son, Sai Akhil Anand, an artist, helps her repair the dolls and repaint them minimally. In recent years, the family has stopped buying new kolu dolls every year, choosing instead to focus on the antique pieces they already own.
Gowri bommai presented as Lord Murugan with his consorts at Aruna Anand’s residence
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Soumya Seshan’s collection display features antique brass figurines that she believes could be more than 120 years old. Among the highlights are representations of butter Krishna, or vennai thaazhi Kannan and Krishna playing the flute. Also on display is a teakwood cradle once used by her husband’s grandfather. “I use many of these antique vessels for everyday cooking,” says Soumya.
Marinating in time
Many youngsters are also interested in vintage dolls, which they now use as decorative pieces in their homes.
Abhinav has his own collection of antique dolls, which he inherited from his great-grandparents. His favourite among them is a standing Krishna.
“These dolls reflect the period in which they were made. For example, a village set depicting a blacksmith, a cobbler and a priest tells us a lot about their clothing and the homes they lived in. I also cherish my kili josiyam and karagattakaran sets,” he says.
For public historian and architect Thirupurasundari Sevvel, who is based in Chennai, the significance of these objects lies in what they reveal about the people who made, collected and preserved them.
A vintage kolu doll in the collection of Cherish Vintage Finds
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“A kolu doll can be read as an archive of public imagination,” she says, adding “A collection of vintage dolls carefully preserved by a family can, therefore, be seen not merely as an assemblage of objects but as a record of changing public imagination.”
