HCK 1099-22b

Namji/Dowayo, Cameroon

H: 50 cm (9,7″), W: 17 cm (6,7″)

The Dowayo/Namji people/tribe is famous for their wooden dolls. They are carved from solid hardwood by specialists. Most have a head that is small, tiny relative to the body. Some are carved with geometric features and adorned with cowry shells, coins, metal strips, fiber, leather, and metal or multi-coloured bead necklaces.

The dolls are held by girls to play, to ensure their fertility, and to prepare the young woman for her role as mother in her future life; the doll would have a name, be fed, be talked to and be carried strapped to the back everywhere the child would go. Some dolls were used for healing and magical purposes and were ‘charged’ with magical substances.

Literature: Kat. African Dolls for Play and Magic, Galerie Amrad, African Arts. Esther A. Dagan (Hrsg.), 1990, S. 91, Abb. 25.

Request price for Namji/Dowayo