Fertility doll ·  Cameroon, Namchi · ID: 3034408

Description

wood, brown patina, torso and neck wrapped with strings of glass beads, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion, socle;
among the Namchi, unadorned dolls made by blacksmiths are young girl’s playthings. When beads, bells and coins are added, however, the doll becomes a surrogate baby for a woman who is having difficulty in getting pregnant. The woman treats the figure like a newborn. She feeds it gruel and carries it on her back, as a mother would a child. The decoration duplicates the adornment worn by young initiates returning to the village after their period of seclusion.

The object Fertility doll with the object ID 3034408 was last part of the auction 72nd tribal art auction at March 9, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 399 achieved a sales price of EUR 600.

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Comparing literature

Cameron, Elisabeth L., Isn't she a doll? Los Angeles 1996, p. 76 ff.