A Fine Ndebele Fertility Doll – Linga Koba – Collected in 1988 – South Africa

Cotton, glass beads, metal elements. Cm. 33,0 high (12.99″). Grams 474,5 (16.74 oz.).

These conical dolls are dressed in the style of traditional women’s costumes; are made by mothers and traditionally placed by young men on the doorstep of their fiancées to formulate their marriage proposal. To signify that they accept the request made to them, the young women then return home the doll that was offered to them.

The Ndebele are one of the smallest tribes of the region. Many times displaced in recent centuries by tribal clashes or more recently by the opportunist interests of the apartheid government, this tribe is now settled in a small territorial enclave (KwaNdebele) northeast of Pretoria where you can admire these beautiful murals that made it famous. Their art of pearl work is just as admirable as their ritual or representative dolls.

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