Fertility Figure Item Number: 905/4 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Carved wooden figure dressed in a hide tunic. The tunic is decorated with four rows of blue and red beads that are grouped in sections of three. Eight rows of beads are draped around the neck. The figure has a square-shaped face, long fibre hair and bangs, and strands of blue and red, and orange and yellow beaded hair decorations.

History Of Use

Carved doll for a childless young married women. The wooden figure would be carved by the girl's father, and the miniature clothes made by the mother, or the girl herself, usuing their own beads and leather cut from her clothing. After giving birth to her first child it would be passed along to a sister.

Narrative

Collected by the donor while living in Nairobi.