An Early Woodlands Doll

Item: 1744

Origin: Woodlands, Ojibwe?
Date: Early to mid 19th Century

Media: Wood, cloth (wool/cotton)

Dimensions: 4 3/4″ tall, 3 5/16″ wide

Description: This is a sweet, minimalist doll. This is perhaps a child’s doll. It could also be a medicinal doll used by a shaman to heal others.  The face looks more like a grown adult, so this doll may have been meant for healing. The healing dolls were typically wrapped in a blanket, which is how the shaman would be with them.  These wrapped dolls are typically missing the arms, which conveys the quality of a blanket wrapped tightly around them.  This one is fully clothed with a shirt and pants, but no arms other than shown in the shirt.  The clothes have good age and could have been the original arrangement for the doll.  If this is the case, then it may have been meant for a child, or an adult, as a symbol of something, that which we don’t know.  This is what adds a layer of mystery to the doll.  Important for the owner is, what does it mean for them?

The wood body has a head, torso and two legs but no arms.  The arms are there by way of the cloth material, and the hands are wrapped textiles.  The shirt is a different type of material than the pants.  Both materials have a similar quality.  The materials are well adhered to the body and show wear patterns from use.

Condition:  Condition is original without restoration.

Price: SOLD