Xhosa-mpondo Or Sotho Or Tswana-ngwato Doll, South Africa

As referenced in "digital innovations south africa" two similar cylindrical ones from the Campbell collection returned in 1948 are included. It would be a Ba Sotho doll, Thaba losiko. This one has the same diamond patterns as the conical ones called "nguana modula". It is adorned with a brass navy jacket button on the hair which represents the face (see evocation of the child) chapter on Sotho dolls. the bodies of the sotho dolls are made of all kinds of materials, clay, wood, corn cobs. The cylindrical dolls made by the zulus at the beginning of the 20th century are rather made later by the pedis. The women of the South Sotho, South Nguni and North Sotho also make cylindrical dolls. The most used colors are green, red, black and white followed by pink and finally blue. The rows are fixed by vertical points by row or by two. The hairstyle is a tuft of fibers decorated with beads. The exact attribution is therefore difficult. We often find conical or bottle-shaped dolls. They were worn by young girls of marriageable age, they are small and worn around the neck or on the shoulder. Once the marriage is planned, the grandmother has a larger doll made which will be worn on the wedding day to show the desire for a child. She will keep the doll until the birth of the first child. The dolls were also used to cure infertility, prescribed by healers. They were also left in sacred places as gifts to the spirits. Many early missionaries and collectors have testified to the use of these dolls among women in southern Sotho.
this doll is smaller size than average