Ritual Child (Doll) - Ovambo / Kwanyama / Ovakwanyama peoples, Northern Namibia

Description

Ritual Doll - Ovambo / Kwanyama / Ovakwanyama peoples, Northern Namibia
Kwanyama women’s bridal initiation?
Men carvers were linked with the production of
okana kositi
or child from wood.
In accordance with primary male production, the use of these figures emphasize on the male contribution to the conception of a child
.
Recorded examples of these figures appear to denote a young woman on the verge of conception and transformation to motherhood by juxtaposing the ostrich eggshell dress of the
efundula
initiation graduates and the dark blue glass beads of a Kwanyama mother classified into two main types;
1)
The family phallic child.
2)
The courtship child.
Reference the book titled Evocations of the Child.
This is an extremely scarce and uncommonly found one-of-a-kind genuine relic.
Condition:
(see photos)
·
Measures 14 inches tall x 4 inches diameter round.
·
Perhaps, a mid-20th century example or slightly later.
·
This “phallic child” (doll) bears a strong likeliness to that of the “family phallic child” viewed as a phallic appropriation of the fertility associated with
endunga
fruit.
However, as cylindrical body forms changed, it is argued that the forms with the extensions such as this example may have been intended to enable lavish displays of beads and hence wealth and status.
·
Hardwood, glass beads, raffia twine, animal hide (belt), kaolin pigments.
·
Sealed fertility (flora fauna??) cavities on top of head and at the base
… See the 7
th
and 12
th
photos.
International buyers, shipping costs will be higher.