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African art - Dolls:

Many contemporary commentaries claim that dolls and puppets were introduced to the African continent by the Catholic missions for didactic purposes. However, it is clear that the ancestral tradition of puppet show existed long before the arrival of the missions. African puppets are predominantly used in men's shows, while dolls are used by girls and women.


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Bwende Doll
African art > African Dolls > Bwende Doll

Belgian collection of African art.
Reduced figure of the niombo, sometimes giant anthropomorphic funerary "package", representing the deceased, buried during funerals during ancestor cults. The doll is made of a basketwork frame covered in textile. It was kept in the chiefs' house.
The Vili, the Lâri, the Sûndi, the Woyo, the Bembé, the Bwende, the Yombé and the Kôngo constituted the Kôngo group, led by King Ntotela. Their kingdom reached its peak in the 16th century with the trade in ivory, copper and the slave trade. With the same beliefs and traditions, they produced statuary with codified gestures in relation to their vision of the world. The Bwendé sculptures were strongly inspired by those of the neighboring Beembé.


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450.00

Namji Doll
African art > African Dolls > Namji Doll

French African Tribal Art Collection.
Adorned with a habit of pearls and strips of leather laid out with regularity, animated by arms represented by straps and cowries, this African doll in wood from the Namji or < b> Dowayo , an animist mountain people living in the north of Cameroon, compose a refined version of a traditional African doll.
These African tribal dolls are carved in wood by the blacksmith, initially for the play of little girls. But these dolls are mainly used by sterile women in complex fertility rituals, the doll becoming a surrogate child that they will treat as such. In some cases the groom offered it to his future wife, the doll representing their future offspring. The decoration of the doll can also reproduce the finery of the new initiates after ...


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340.00

Kwere Doll
African art > African Dolls > Kwere Doll

The Zaramo and the tribes that surround them, such as the Kwéré and the Doé, designed dolls generally associated with fertility, but to which other virtues would be attributed. Its primary role is played during the period of confinement of the young initiate Zaramo. The novice will behave towards the object as with a child, and will dance with it during the closing ceremonies of the initiation. In case the young woman does not conceive, she will adopt the "child". Among the Zaramo, this carved motif is repeated on the top of canes, decorates ritual objects and even appears on burial posts. The shape is recurrent, a stylized head, topped with a double or single crest surmounting a barrel bust where slight reliefs indicate the breasts and the umbilicus. Light brown satin patina.


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120.00

Ashanti Statuette
African art > African Dolls > Ashanti Statuette

Ex-collection of French African art.
This stylized female African figure, Akua'ba (plural Akua'mma), has features specific to Ashanti bust dolls: a flat, circular head surmounting a cylindrical bust with horizontal arms. Thin necklaces of colored pearls contrast with the orange patina. These stylized wooden effigies were worn by pregnant women, tight in their loincloth, to ensure the arrival of beautiful children. The overwhelming majority of these statues are female, with breasts.

The Ashanti are one of the ethnic groups of Ghana (former "Gold Coast"), part of the Akan group, living in a region covered of forests. Just like other people living in the central and southern part of Ghana, she speaks a language of the Twi group. This people considers the woman as the final ...


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140.00

Mossi doll
African art > African statues : tribal fetish, maternity > Mossi doll

A schematic anthropomorphic fertility doll, whose head appearance varies by region, it represents a spirit with which a relationship is established. The tubular bust, slightly swollen at the abdomen, has a chest. The angular, stylized head evokes the feminine crest hairstyle, the parallel incisions, the scarifications and the braids of the ethnic group. Beautiful light brown patina abraded and sained by contact.
The use of dolls by young African women is not done exclusively within the initiation context. When menstruation occurs, the girl is considered a potential mother. In many ethnic groups, the search for fertility is then done through rituals. Wooden figures will then be carved, some reflecting both genres, in many cases covered with pearls and clothing. During the period of ...


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95.00