Intriguing Infants

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Member Jenell Howell shared these two beautiful babies she recently acquired. Entirely of leather, with swivel necks and beautifully painted faces, these dolls are each 16 inches high. Their ethnic outfits are original. She had no information regarding where or when they were made.

One clue to their origins may be the metal amulets in the form of a stylized hand each wears.

Known as the hamsa, this symbol is found widely throughout the Middle East and North Africa, where is appears in jewelry, wall hangings, and other decorative motifs. Tracing its origins back to ancient Mesopotamia, the amulet is thought to bring protection and luck, as well as to deflect the evil eye.

Another clue may be that the nation of Morocco has long been renown for its fine leather crafts, including dolls. Using a special process she developed in 1921, Gertrude Arnall founded the Arnall's Moroccan Craftsmen of Tangier, producing handmade leather dolls representing everyday citizens of that country. It is said that these are the first commercial dolls produced in Morocco. Doll-making was considered a breach of Islamic law, which prohibited the making of images, but Arnall convinced Moroccan authorities that the dolls were not idolatrous and would be generic characters, not portraits of any specific individual. The dolls were sold to tourists and exported through the 1940s. They may have been sold through Kimport Dolls as well. Although most of the labeled Arnall dolls represent adult men and women and range between 8 to 10 inches in height, like these babies, they are finely crafted entirely out of leather, with detailed costumes, expressive faces, and large solemn painted brown eyes. Perhaps these charming children were a special order by Arnall's atelier or another Moroccan leather craftsman was inspired by the success of Arnall's enterprise.

Until an example is found with its original label or other identification, it is a solid educated guess that these darling dolls are from the Middle East or North Africa, most likely Morocco, and were made somewhere between the 1920s through the 1940s.