Makonde Fetish Doll Maternity Figure

A mother holds her child, and the child holds on back.

Makonde makers of Tanzania, East Africa, modeled this maternity figure in terra cotta and cloth in the late 19th or early 20th century. Mother-and-child figures are commonly associated with fertility and protection across Africa. The mother stands upright with a rounded head and narrow features, and one arm curls around an infant clasped at her side. The clay is a rough orange-brown, scratched and pitted with age, and her hips and legs are strong and plain.

About ten inches tall. Tender, tough and unpolished.