this is bobe tzinke. bobe means grandmother in yiddish, but was often used for midwives – it was a moniker that indicated the importance of midwives in the jewish community and how they were often considered members of the extended family of those they helped through childbirth. midwives didn’t only assist in births; they were community healers who were sought out when doctors’ remedies failed. bobe tzinke lived in wselub, in present-day belarus. according to one of her grandchildren, she was especially known for pouring lead: “If somebody fell ill and the doctors could not help him, he would be taken to bobe Tzinke. She poured hot lead into a basin of cold water over the head of the sick. The head was covered with a sheet. She did the pouring from three to seven times, whilst uttering certain incantations. The sick began to feel better and most did recover.” bobe tzinke was able to support herself financially through her work, even in her later years after her husband died.
according to the same grandchild, “She had a long, beautiful girdle and after each birth she made a knot in the girdle. She asked that the girdle with the knots should be put around her after she died, so that the newly born children would be her reference to allow her an entry to heaven.” the interior circle of this piece represents the knots in the girdle (which in this context was a belt, not a corset), though i don’t know how many births bobe tzinke assisted during her 90 years.
bobe tzinke is part of the matriarch series and is made from white stoneware clay. she measures 8.5in x 8in x 5-6in and was completed in 2025.