Summary

National doll produced to represent a Peruvian woman, it was sent to Monica Gates in 1960, by some distant relations who went to live in Lima, Peru for a number of years.

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

This doll is made from wire and thread and is part of a pair. She wears a black skirt decorated with yellow, green, blue and orange thread, a blue petticoat with a red and yellow hem and matching embroidery thread sandals. The doll has a yellow felt coat, a yellow, purple and red striped scarf and she holds a string of coloured balls in between her hands. Her black hair is held in two plaits and she wears an orange, blue, green and black felt sunhat, and clear sequin earrings. The face of the doll is made of synethnic polymer.

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