Pair of Dolls
Unknown Artist
1900s
Medium
Wood, kaolin, and paint
Classification
Sculpture
Department
African Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Harry W. Langworthy
Accession Number
1996.267
About this artwork
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 ...