Dolls
Item Set
Title
Dolls
Description
Dolls from the Powell-Cotton collection
Items
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Large cylindrical doll made of braided plant fibre with elaborate hair or head dress with blue beads
Large doll with a simple cylindrical body made of a golden coloured braided plant fibre, wrapped around a core of the same fibre, with a slightly wider base. The doll has no defined head or face but wears an elaborate hairstyle or head dress also made of braided plant fibre and decorated with blue glass beads at the end of four of the braids. There is a darker coloured strip of plant fibre string woven into the centre parting of the hairstyle. -
Simply carved wooden doll with a groove for neck and torso, etched face and arms
A simple wooden doll made by a boy. The shape is cylindrical with a groove to represent the neck and another below the torso. The face has been carved with lines to represent eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth and ears. There is a zigzag design on the back of the head. The arms and hands are etched on the torso. The top and bottom of the doll are flat and the bottom section where the legs are is plain. -
Carved wooden doll with a flat head, with blackened decoration showing arms and shorts
A wooden doll with a round flat head carved from a thick branch. The bark texture of the branch has been left on the head portion of the doll, which has a wide slit for a mouth and a slit on either side of the head for eyes. Sections of the body have been blackened to create the impression of arms and clothing in the form of an open shirt and shorts. The legs have been individually carved and the buttocks and hem of the shirt have been carved at the back. -
Clay doll with rounded head, arms, legs and breasts, dressed in a cloth rag and wrapped in string
A clay doll made by a girl and named 'Noriku' by the girl's mother. The doll is formed of a rounded head which has several holes poked in it. It has separately formed arms, legs and protruding breasts. The doll is dressed in a rag which is tied at the waist and between the legs with string. -
Clay doll with round head, long bowed legs and one short arm, dressed in a cloth rag and beads
A clay doll with round head. The doll originally had eyes, nose and mouth made by pressing millet grains into the clay. Only the left eye remains. It has long legs in proportion to the other features and short arms. The left arm has broken off. The doll is dressed in a rag which is tied around the waist with a thinner strip of rag as a belt. It wears a necklace of red and green glass beads. -
Simple doll made from two round palm fruits, with hide and string ties around the middle
Simple doll made from two round palm fruits, one representing the head and one the body, with hide and string ties around the waist. The face is formed of three inserted seeds or beads, two of which are missing, with only the left eye remaining. The hair has been representing by lines etched into the palm fruit to create a centre parting and four vertical sections on each side of the head. The doll has a black animal hide tie and several loops of plant fibre string around its neck. The ends of these fibres extend down the back of the doll. -
Doll made of plant fibre bound with string, female figure with a large braided head dress
Female doll figure made of plant fibre bound with plant string, The body is simple with separate legs, no arms, breasts, long neck and no detail on the face. The figure has a large braided hairstyle or head dress, and wears two strings of red glass beads around the neck, a long brown cloth front apron and shorter back apron. The figure is described in the Powell-Cotton sisters curio list as a 'bride wearing headdress.' -
Dark clay doll with wooden legs, with cloth and hide apron and pink, white and blue beadwork
Doll made out of dark clay with thin red coloured wooden legs, a spherical head with eyes of white beads pushed into the clay, no arms and small pointed breasts made out of the same wood as the legs. The doll wears a thick black beaded neck piece and an apron made of red coloured cloth on the front, and animal skin with fur still present on the back. Around the waist and hips are several rows of glass seed beads in bands of pink, white and blue. -
Female doll made from grey clay wearing a small piece of cloth tied on at the waist.
Doll with large head, arms, legs and breasts modelled out of pale grey sandy clay. The doll has string around its waist with a small piece of clay covered fabric attached. -
Pregnant corn cob doll with an elaborate clay hair style wearing cloth aprons and a band above her breasts.
Doll made from a long thin maize husk. Clay has been added to the doll to create head, chest, breasts and a protruding abdomen. Black markings have been painted on the dolls breasts and in a long strip down the centre of the face. There are small decorative indentations in the forehead area. The dolls hair is made of narrow strips of chequered fabric with small egg shaped pieces of clay moulded onto the ends. The doll is wearing at least two kinds of fabric (one chequered, one plain) around her waist, they have been tied on with string below the abdomen. -
Doll made from a corn cob with clay head and textile head dress and aprons
Doll made from a corn cob with clay added to form the head, with a large cox comb head dress which is decorated with pin pricks in the clay. The doll has hair made of strips of a black textile attached on either side of the face with round clay beads at the end of each strip. The body is made of a corn cob with some clay additions around the abdomen. It is dressed in front and back aprons made out of scraps of black, beige and beige checked fabric. The checked fabric is secured around the base of the corn husk with plant fibre string. -
Female doll made of black clay with a double crested hairstyle, left breast missing
Doll made of a cylinder of black clay, representing a woman. She is dressed with a thin band of bark cloth which is not attached. On the front of the body there is a vertical groove down the length of the body, and two mounds for breasts, the left breast has broken off. On the back there are two crosses etched into the clay. The face is blank. The head has an elaborate hairstyle, with two crests at the top of the head and one on either side. The top two crests have cross-hatched decoration.