Fertility doll ·  Cameroon, Namchi · ID: 3041028

Description

wood, brown patina, eyes inset with beads, adorned with bead jewellery, min. dam., fine cracks, slight traces of abrasion, base;
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 object Fertility doll with the object ID 3041028 was last part of the auction 84th Tribal Art Auction at November 5, 2016 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 349 achieved a sales price of EUR 800.

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