Pregnancy Doll

One day I happened upon this beautiful picture. I realized that it was an antique biological model, but couldn't find out much for about it. Tonight while browsing through one of my favorite blogs morbidanatomy I think I might have found my answer. I believe it is a "Pregnancy Doll."

"In the 18th and 19th centuries, sideshow carnivals known asmisemono were a popular form of entertainment for the sophisticated residents of Edo (present-day Tokyo). The sideshows featured a myriad of educational and entertaining attractions designed to evoke a sense of wonder and satisfy a deep curiosity for the mysteries of life. One popular attraction was the pregnant doll. Although it is commonly believed that these dolls were created primarily to teach midwives how to deliver babies, evidence suggests they were also used for entertainment purposes. For example, records from 1864 describe a popular show in Tokyo’s Asakusa entertainment district that educated audiences about the human body. The show featured a pregnant doll whose abdomen could be opened to reveal fetal models depicting the various stages of prenatal development... (July 2001 issue of Geijutsu Shincho magazine) " In morbidanatomy post about the doll she references another post on pinktentacle that has even more info. So happy I finally found out what it is.