Summary

National doll produced to represent an Italian woman, it is one of 10 Italian National Dolls collected for Monica Gates by her mother during an overseas trip in the 1970s. These dolls represent various traditions and dress throughout Italy. Women's folk costumes in Italy are comprised of several basic elements: shirt and skirt, apron, head covering either a head scarf, hat or both, stockings and shoes. Colour, ornamentation, fabrics and the style of individual items are used to denote regional differences. The doll is intended to represent a woman from Sardegna (Sardinia) an island off the coast of Italy.

The Gates collection contains 170 national dolls from 74 different countries and some correspondence relating to the acquisition of several of the dolls. The costumes of the dolls represent national costumes from the 19th Century to the 1990s. Monica Gates collected or was given these dolls between 1957 and 1990.

These dolls were purchased as souvenirs of particular countries and like many mass produced souvenirs they are often not accurate representations of a particular country or region, and may actually better reflect neighbouring counties or regions. This occurs because costumes are often stylised and simplified resulting dolls wearing generic costume elements which are common to many countries/regions. Often the fabrics and decorations used are selected to make the dolls cheap and easy to manufacture and aesthetically pleasing. This can result in the fabrics, colours and decorations of the doll's clothing having little or no reflection of the costume associated with a particular country or region they are meant to be representative of.

Physical Description

Female doll with plastic body and composition head with painted face, blue eyes looking to left. Black hair braided around ears and covered with white lace shawl. Black/brown felt long-sleeved top trimmed with lace at neck, cuffs and on bodice, also yellow ribbon trim. Waist tied with red bow. Skirt of blue/purple shot fabric with stiffened canvas mesh petticoat and fabric underpants underneath.. Apron over top consists of brown felt in triangular shape trimmed with yellow ribbon and surrounded by red braid with blue flowers on it. Doll wears flat black plastic shoes. Limbs are jointed. Card crest-shaped label stapled lower apron, in red and silver.

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