Kirdi Fertility Doll Fetish

Beads, cowries and a wish, in northern Cameroon.

Among the Kirdi, dolls like this were associated with young women, marriage and the wish for children. This one, 20th century, ten and a half inches tall, combines carved wood with leather. A smooth rounded wooden head with a darkened, handled surface sits atop a neck sheathed in close-set red beads. Below, heavy swags of black and red bead strands drape across the body, gathered by a fiber binding at the waist, with clusters of cowrie shells fixed at shoulder and hip.

Matte wood, glossy beads, pale shells. A good argument for texture.