Beaded Doll Depicting a Married Woman's Clothing

Unidentified Zulu maker

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1965

Yarn and beads

Overall: 15 3/8 × 5 1/8 × 5 1/8 in. (39 × 13 × 13 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Museum Purchase

166.1.15854

Geography

Place Made: South Africa, Southern Africa, Africa

Period

20th century

Object Name

Recreational Artifacts: Toy, Doll

Research Area

Africa

On view

Label

The black skirt, red yarn headdress, blue cape, and beadwork on this doll are common attire for married Zulu women. Isicholo is the isiZulu term for the headpiece seen here, worn only by married women. Zulu girls and women learn and practice the art of beading throughout their lives. Although women are traditionally the bead workers, men can receive beaded items from women they intend to marry.

From the 2023 exhibition Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, curated by Alexandra Thomas, Curatorial Research Associate

Course History

First Year Student Enrichment Program – Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Colleen Lannon, Summer 2023

First Year Student Enrichment Program - Cultures, Identities and Belongings, Mokhtar Bouba, Summer 2023

Philosophy 1.11, Art: True, Beautiful, Nasty, John Kulvicki, Summer 2023

Writing 2.05, Why Write, Anyway?, Erkki Mackey, Fall 2023

Writing 5.24, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Fall 2023

Writing 5.25, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Fall 2023

Exhibition History

Homecoming: Domesticity and Kinship in Global African Art, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, and Northeast Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 22, 2023–May 25, 2024.

Provenance

J. R. Ivy, Ltd., Pretoria, South Africa; purchased by Professor James W. Fernandez for the Dartmouth College Museum, 1965; sold to present collection, 1966.

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