China doll

A china doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of glazed porcelain. The name comes from china being used to refer to the material porcelain. Colloquially the term china doll is used to refer only glazed porcelain dolls.

A typical china doll has a glazed porcelain head with painted molded hair and a body made of cloth or leather. They range in size from more than 30" (76 cm) tall to 1 inch (2.5 cm). Antique china dolls were predominantly produced in Germany, approximately between 1840 and 1940. Rare and elaborately decorated antique china dolls can have value on the collectors market. Beginning in the mid-20th-century reproductions of china dolls of various quality were produced in Japan and the United States.

History

Antique china dolls were predominantly produced in Germany, approximately between 1840 and 1940, with the peak in popularity between roughly 1840 and 1890. Unglazed bisque dolls became popular after 1850. Harper's Bazaar referred to china dolls as "old fashioned" in 1873, though they continued being made well into the early 20th century. China doll heads were produced in large quantities, counting in the millions. Some of the most prolific manufacturers were companies like Kestner; Conta & Boehme; Alt, Beck and Gottschalck; and Hertwig. Other German companies include Kling, Kister, KPM, and Meissen. China dolls were also produced in Czechoslovakia (Schlaggenwald), Denmark (Royal Copenhagen), France (Barrois, Jacob Petit), Poland (Tielsch), and Sweden (Rörstrand),. The earliest known were made by Kestner, KPM, Meissen and Royal Copenhagen.

China

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces; five autonomous regions; four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing); two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau); and claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the world's second-largest country by land area, and either the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres (9,000 mi) long, and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South China Seas.

Steve Vai

Steven Siro "Steve" Vai (/vɑːɪ/; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, singer, songwriter, and producer, born and raised on Long Island, New York. Vai was voted the 10th "Greatest Guitarist" by Guitar World magazine, and has sold over 15 million records. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of 18 as a transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, and joined his band from 1980 to 1983. He embarked on a solo career in 1983 and has released eight solo albums to date. He has recorded and toured with Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake, as well as having recorded with artists such as Mary J. Blige, Spinal Tap, and Ozzy Osbourne. Additionally, Vai has toured with live-only acts G3, Zappa Plays Zappa, the Experience Hendrix tour, as well as headlining international tours.

Vai has been described as a "highly individualistic player" and part of a generation of "heavy rock and metal virtuosi who came to the fore in the 1980s". The launch of the Ibanez JEM guitar developed and co-designed by Vai was described as the "exact moment the entire guitar landscape was reshaped". He also designed the first commercially produced seven-string guitar, the Ibanez Universe, which was used by nu metal artists in the 1990s. He released his first solo album Flex-Able in 1984, while his most successful release, Passion and Warfare (1990), was described as "the richest and best hard rock guitar-virtuoso album of the '80s".