Summary

National doll produced to represent a Taiwanese woman, it was purchased for Monica Gates circa 1970s-1980s.Traditional Taiwanese dress differs little from Chinese dress, although the small Indigenous Taiwanese population will wear their traditional clothing on certain occasions. This doll is dressed in a changpo and over jacket, which are were generally worn by wealthier Taiwanese or for ceremonies or special occasions. The use of silk for the over jacket and baby's sling would also denote wealth or one's best set of clothing.

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 dressed in a lime green dress with pale yellow edging and long sleeves. On her back she carries a baby in a blue sling. The baby has a light pink hood on with black trimming. The dolls hair is black and is tied in two plaits, one at either side of her head. The plaits have pale yellow ribbons in them. Her hair is also decorated with two pink flowers with green leaves. The facial features of both the doll and the baby are painted on.

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