Description

This doll is dressed as a married woman. She wears a backskirt (thimba), a beaded apron (mapoto), a beaded blanket (nguba) and long beaded strips (linga koba) attached to a beaded headdress. The linga koba (the term literally means 'long tears') are worn by a mother whose son is at an initiation camp and represent the joy and happiness the mother experiences when her son comes of age. Ndebele doll makers started adopting this detailed naturalistic style that unlike older dolls, represents the figure with arms, legs and feet, in the 1980s as a way of expanding their market beyond their community and produce pieces that would appeal to urban and international clientele.