Summary

National doll produced to represent a Spanish woman. It was purchased for Monica Gates by a friend in 1968. The doll is dressed in clothing popularised in the Andalusian region of Spain. Situated in the southernmost region, the folk dress of Andalusian now represents Spain itself. Women wear ruffled skirts and Manila shawls with colourful embroidery.

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 wearing a red frilled dress. There are three layers of frilling in the skirt, each of which is trimmed with black lace. The bottom layer has piping in it to make the skirt 'fly' out as though the doll has just spun around. The bodice of the dress is skin tight and trimmed with black lace around the neck and sleeves. There is a cream flower in the middle of the chest. Around her neck she wears a gold cross on a chain. Other jewlery includes two gold bracelets and a pair of gold ear-rings. SHe wears a black lace head- dress which hangs down to the bottom of the dress and which is also tied to her hands. On the top of her head a red flower. In her hand she holds a black lace fan which opens and closes. Her nails are painted red. Her facial features are painted on. She wears red high-heals.

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