# Pair of Dolls

- Date: 1900s
- Medium: Wood, kaolin, and paint
- Classification: Sculpture
- Culture: Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Ibibio style, unknown artist
- Credit line: Gift of Harry W. Langworthy
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1996.267)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1996.267/1996.267_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Young Ibibio girls would play with dolls for fun. They also took on deeper significance when a girl entered seclusion to go through preparations for adulthood and marriage, representing her future children and promoting her fertility. The kaolin (white clay) that once covered the figures' bodies has been worn off, possibly through handling during play. Thin lines represent uli, a kind of body painting. Upraised, foreshortened hands with open fingers were typical of dolls carved by Ibibio people from the Anang group.