Doll "ngide" ·  Kenya, Turkana · ID: 3041553

Description

body of a tripartite palm nut, dressed with strings of glass beads, coiffure of leather strips and glass beads, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion, base;
such dolls emphasize the interaction between a woman and her lover or husband, not between mother and child. A woman’s mother makes a doll from large nuts that replicate the shape of male genitalia and decorates it with beads donated by the man’s best friend. The doll, named after this friend, becomes the young couple’s son. During the day, the woman wears the doll, which is attached to a string, around her neck or over her shoulder. At night, she hangs it by the string safely inside her house. When a woman calls out her “son’s” name while dancing, her lover responds by dancing with her.

The object Doll “ngide” with the object ID 3041553 was last part of the auction 85th Tribal Art Auction at March 4, 2017 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 102 achieved a sales price of EUR 200.

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Comparing literature

Cameron, Elisabeth L., Isn't she a doll? Los Angeles 1996, p. 31, ill. 24

Publications

Rielau, Hans Dietrich, Afrikanische Miniaturen, Norderstedt 2011, p. 106