General description Woman wearing a costume typical of the Boers (descendents of the Dutch and Huguenot population which settled in southern Africa in the late 17th century) and Voortrekker (one of the groups of Dutch-speaking people who migrated by wagon from the Cape Colony into the interior from 1836 onwards).
Dimensions 20 x 15 x 6cm
Date when acquired 1970s
Original Date 1970s
Source South Africa. A present from my father.
Body
Plastic body with moveable arms and weighted eyes. The legs are rigid. She has very full curly auburn hair tucked up under her bonnet.
Clothing
The woman is wearing a black brocade dress with a flower pattern done in gold thread. At the bottom of her leg-of-mutton sleeves is a narrow band of white lace. Two bands of gold braid are sewn around the sleeves at the level of the elbows and shoulders. Three vertical bands of ivory braid decorate the front of the dress’s long skirt. The skirt is stiffened with white lining material. She is wearing white cotton underpants.
She has a fine white lace shawl around her shoulders and tucked into the front of her red felt apron. The felt apron strings are tied in a simple knot at the back. The front of the apron is decorated with appliques made from the same lace as her shawl. She is wearing a poke bonnet made of the same red felt as her apron.
Her low black shoes are painted on.
Accessories
None.
Background information
The ancestors of the white Afrikaner community in South Africa originally came from the Netherlands in the 17th century. They settled, as the Boers, in the area around Cape Town, which was then colonised by the British in the 18th century. In the 19th century, the Dutch emigrated from the Cape colony on the coast into the interior. These emigres, the Voortrekker (pioneers), settled in the future Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal regions (nowadays, the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal; Free State; Limpopo, Pretoria, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and part of North West Province; respectively)
Nowadays, this type of costume is worn by the descendants of the Boers for formal folk dancing called volkspele. The male folk dancing partners wear shirts with waistcoats and long trousers.
The poke bonnet worn by this doll became fashionable at the beginning of the 19th century. It was first mentioned in an 1807 fashion report in The Times (a British newspaper). The style can be quite plain like this one or be very extravagantly decorated with ribbons and bows, etc. Another name for this type of bonnet is a Neapolitan bonnet.
See also South Africa: General information
Source(s) of information
http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Rwanda-to-Syria/Afrikaners.html#ixzz3qKLaiToH
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poke_bonnet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voortrekkers
(2.3.1)
National costume dolls 