Ba Tonka Clay Dolls

Circa 1980

From the John Williams Collection

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Museum records confirm that most of the tribal peoples of Southern Africa origin made clay dolls during the 19th century. The Ba Tonka "or Batonga"  are no exception. They live on both sides of  the Zambezi River and Lake Kariba in Zambia and Zimbabwe. In 1960 the Kariba dam was completed, making it at the time the largest man made dam ever built. The Ba Tonka were forced to relocate away from the flooding valleys where they had lived and fished for what may be three millennium.

Ba Tonka Women - Circa 1949 - Barbara Tyrrell / Peter Jurgens

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"EVOCATIONS of the Child" refers to Southern African child figures made of clay as "Children of the Earth". John Williams collected both clay dolls on the Zambian side of the river. His Southern African collection contained mostly items dated to the mid 20th century or before. 

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This second example has a removable head. To our knowledge, clay dolls by the same hand are only known in one museum collection.

 Ndebele Dolls - South Africa

umndwana

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Beaded Ndebele dolls were made for adolescent girls either by their mothers or by the girls themselves. The Ndebele dressed their dolls much as they did their person. Sometimes beaded rings encircle the dolls arms, patterned after actual arm rings worn by Ndebele women.

 

   

 

Adult women in traditional Ndebele dress.

 

The Ndebele Ndzundza  live in Mpumalanga South Africa and called their dolls "umndwana".

 

    

Small charms were made to be given away as presents - or sold as souvenirs. This example dates to the 1950's and sports oxidized copper wire leg rings.

Ivys Albums

Ndebele dolls pre-date Ndebele decorated walls. Dolls were photographed by Duggun-Cronin around 1923, whereas simple wall decorations were first photographed by Constance Larrabee in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.

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Ntwane Initiation Dolls

Gimwane

Ntwane Girls with Gimwane Dolls - Barbara Tyrrell - Circa 1950

The emphasis on the Ntwane women’s central role as wives and mothers is pervasive even before female initiation. It finds its most visible form in the gimwane or popenyane – a traditional fertility doll constructed from plaited grass, wool, and beads.

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Three Ntwane "gimwane" dolls made for young girls initiation.

 

The skills necessary for producing the gimwane are passed down from mother to daughter. Pre-initiate girls pretend the dolls are the progeny of their current boyfriends, who are invited to participate in a dance competition, the outcome of which determines the leader of the prepubescent group.

 

 

      

 

Ntwane Girl with Gimwane Doll - Barbara Tyrrell - Circa 1950

 

The young boys usually congregate at the home of one of the girls, who place the gimwane in a line. The “fathers” and “mothers’ then form two rows on either side of the fertility dolls and proceed to dance with their partners.

 

 

   

 

                                Young girls at initiation.                                       Tribal Peoples of Southern Africa Page 75

Although these fertility dolls have no specific sexual articulation, the gender of some gimwane may be determined by the shapes of their frontal and rear aprons. Male gimwane tend to be dressed with rectangular front loincloths, while the female dolls may be identified by V-shaped aprons which resembles the rear aprons worn by uninitiated Ntwane girls.

 

 

Ntwane Doll - Circa 1940

This is our oldest Ntwane doll. It originates from the John Williams collection, a Southern African collection put together with items dating to the mid 20th century or before. Note that it is taller and far more narrow then the others.

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