Featured African 'fertility' figure: seeking details/leads

Don't know enough about African tribal art except that attributions can be 'tricky' without provenance, and I don't have any for this piece. I can't place the region or date with any accuracy from my research. Pictures hopefully will tell the story and you can provide some of the rest.

The 'dress' is wrapped twine with a waxy or perhaps 'tarred' appearance and feel. The beads have a look of having been 'dipped' in a dye or stain along with the rest of it, which is wearing off the beads. One hair bead is cracked down the middle and the appearance and weight and feel like plastic, not glass. The 'dress top' beads appear have a white body with blue or red thin stripe across them.

Tourist piece? As most might be… or something more ‘tribal’?

 

@Taupou your comment would be appreciated

 

One piece of advice for searching. Call it a fertility doll. We had one not too long ago. Cameroon has some armless ones, but others know more than I.

 

ha. Cameroon was my best guess coincidentally. Thx

Namji doll? Falli Ritual doll? So confusing; so much to learn...


Calgon, take me away.

 

I find these dolls difficult to distinguish between areas, so I will wait for other replies.

 

I'd say it's probably Turkana, from Kenya, based on the type of wood carving, the hair treatment, stacked bead necklaces, use of red ochre, and the little white bead eyes.

 

thanks Taupou for the lead. much appreciated; will investigate to add to the knowledge pool.

 

I should have added to beware of using google to try to identify something like this. You're going to come up with some very erroneous identifications, as well as some accurate ones, which only serves to make it far more complicated when it's an area one isn't familiar with.

 

That is good advice. I have seen many things multi-labeled. Glad we have you to give guidance @Taupou!

 

I can definitely see the multiple similarities.
http://www.nationalcostumedolls.com/kenya-turkana-tribe-ngide-dolls/
"
Ngide' or 'Child' dolls made by the Turkana people in Kenya. This type of doll is carved by the father for a maturing daughter, the Turkana believe that if the girl treats the doll as a real baby she will succesfully bear a child."

I like the way this one was described:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vtg-african-turkana-ngide-kenya-1905187969
"Most of these dolls come out of Kenya but others may also make them. This one is vintage. It is very difficult to date it accurately. ... The hair is twisted hemp which makes it a doll made for the tourist trade. ... To be a true tribal artifact it would have been made for a child by its parents and the hair would be cut from the the head of the child's mother and used for the doll. Aside from the hair and the wood used (usually a hardwood so it withstands wear) this doll was handmade using the same techniques the tribal maker would have used to make an identical one for their daughter. It no doubt is from Kenya and was probably bought in a remote village in Kenya. It simply is too crude to be a commercially made doll.
...Often mistaken as a fertility doll, this Ngide (child) doll may be an ikideet doll. Ikideet dolls are often carved by fathers and then decorated by the mothers using the daughter's own beads and skirt. They are then gifted to their daughters."

As I was looking further, I came across this as well, which matches other multiple features:

https://issuu.com/danielpiperno/docs/liste_dolls
The use of the twine and beads over the upper body and the twine over the lower part is also compelling. Nyamwezi of Tanzania also use the bead eyes.
"Nyamwezi carvers are famous for their figures, which are usually carved out from a heavy wood with a shiny surface. They tend to have elongated features with the eyes inset with circular white beads. Such elongated figures with distorted limbs were used in water divination ceremonies."

Shows just how difficult to know anything with reasonable certainty is. And to know what information to trust since it all bleeds over from one area to another.

Thanks to all for the leads on this journey