Calabash Doll Nyamwesi Tanzania

This is a very nice, even funny doll. The pyrography technique has made it possible to schematically trace the main features of the face, mouth, nose, eye cavities and eyebrows. Sculpting a hollow nose (in a negative way) is not easy. The eye cavities were filled with an adhesive – resin or wax – which allowed the insertion of a pearl or a pierced shell, which even manages to give depth to the gaze. The leather and canvas belt is lined with small bags containing herbs. As for the "stopper", made of wood sealed with canvas, it fulfills the function of a definitive shutter, which suggests that some material, liquid or solid , was once deposited inside. The Nyamwezi once had calabash dolls for deceased twins, which the mothers fed with liquid food. origin emmanuel Dehan brussels