Cleveland Museum of Art

Pair of Dolls

Date

1900s

Medium

Wood, kaolin, and paint

Culture

Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Ibibio style, unknown artist

Department

African Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Young Ibibio girls would play with dolls for fun. They also took on deeper significance when a girl entered seclusion to go through preparations for adulthood and marriage, representing her future children and promoting her fertility. The kaolin (white clay) that once covered the figures' bodies has been worn off, possibly through handling during play. Thin lines represent uli , a kind of body painting. Upraised, foreshortened hands with open fingers were typical of dolls carved by Ibibio people from the Anang group. Dolls like this were sold at markets where they were purchased as symbolic playthings for girls or souvenirs for tourists.

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