Zulu Or Sotho Beaded Doll, South Africa

This doll features a fabric body covered with pearls, the majority of which are pink. It is adorned with two belts and a skirt formed of pendants ending in thicker white beads. The figure has two long beaded arms, one of which is finished with an antique brass button. This type of beaded figurine is generally attributed to Southern African populations, notably Zulu or Southern Sotho.

Worn as pendants, these figures were associated with seduction practices and intended to attract a suitor with a view to marriage and the birth of children.
Very good overall, with some missing beads.

Documentation: Karel Nel and Nessa Leibhammer, The Puzzle of the Pendant Figures, in Evocations of the Child. Fertility Figures of the Southern African Region, Human & Rousseau, Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg, 1998, p. 151; commentary and attribution by François Mottas.