Namchi Leather Fertility Doll

Beads, hundreds of them, and a doll who has not been out of them in years.

The Namchi of Cameroon made this fertility doll in the 20th century, built on a wooden core with leather. Such dolls were associated with young women and the hope of children, and were cared for and adorned with beads. Dozens of strands of red and white beads, with accents of blue and yellow, loop around the body and cinch at the waist. White and red beadwork binds the neck. The head is crowned in leather fringe tipped with red beads, and clusters of cowrie shells hang from leather cords.

Sixteen inches high. Dressed for an occasion that never really ends.