SOUTH SOTHO, LESOTHO/SOUTH AFRICA

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Composed of a near conical wooden core sheathed in beadwork, this object is not a doll in the conventional Western sense, but rather a woman’s fertility figure in the form of an adult female. Such figures, which incorporate talismanic material, were once used by the bride during marriage ceremonies to ensure fertility and were also employed by childless women to overcome barrenness.

There are several types of Sotho figures; the present piece is of the wood-core variety. This type of figure has been in use since at least the late nineteenth century.

The checkered beadwork pattern and blue, white, and rose color combination is distinctively Sotho. The wood core would have been carved by a man and then ‘dressed’ by a woman in its finely worked bead wrapping. Details to the head – in this case, an abstract coiffure and face – enrich the doll’s anthropomorphic character as do the finely beaded arms hanging on the side of the figure.
Old collection # 53 on underside.