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Pair of Dolls
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Young Ibibio girls would play with dolls for fun. They also took on deeper significance when a girl entered seclusion to go through preparations for adulthood and marriage, representing her future children and promoting her fertility. The kaolin (white clay) that once covered the figures' bodies has been worn off, possibly through handling during play. Thin lines represent uli , a kind of body painting. Upraised, foreshortened hands with open fingers were typical of dolls carved by Ibibio people from the Anang group.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit linePair of Dolls, 1900s. Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Ibibio style, unknown artist. Wood, kaolin, and paint. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Harry W. Langworthy, 1996.267
