Summary

National doll produced to represent an Italian man, 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. This doll is intended to represent a Venetian man who is working as a gondolier. The profession of gondolier is controlled by a guild, which issues a limited number of licenses granted after periods of training and apprenticeship, and an exam which tests knowledge of Venetian history and landmarks, foreign language skills, and practical skills in handling the gondola.

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

Male doll of Venice depicting a gondolier formed of plastic body and limbs and composition head with painted face, blue eyes looking left. Black felt cap simulates hair, topped by straw wide-brimmed hat with apricot braid hatband. Costume consists of white long sleeved shirt with blue sailors collar and blue and white striped fabric showing at neck. Wide red ribbon at waist and navy blue felt trousers. Black plastic shoes. Beige and gold crest- shaped cord stapled to sash. Figure has left arm raised and thread forms loops on each hand for the oar.

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