Summary

National doll produced to represent a Chilean man, which was sent to Monica Gates circa 1962 by friends or family who had visited South America. The doll is dressed in the clothing traditionally worn by the huaso's (horsemen) of Chile, the chupalla (straw hat with a flat brim), riding pants and boots (normally knee high), a shirt and poncho. This style of clothing is also worn for men dancing Chile's national dance the cueca. Performed in Chile since 1824 the cueca is a complex dance, generally performed to music consisting of one or two voices accompanied by guitar, piano, harp, accordion, or other instruments.

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 dressed in a tan coloured outfit with black stitching. The outfit is an all-in-one suit with a waist band. Over this is a tan leather poncho with light brown stitching. This has some decorative stitching and the word CHILE stitched into it. He wears black leather boots and a tan hat with a large brim which has a white, a red and a blue string tied to for a hatband. He holds a guitar made of leather in his hands. His facial features are painted on.

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