Lot: 146

84th Tribal Art Auction

Figural fragment

Mali, Dogon

Provenance Size Starting price / estimated price
Ladislas Segy, New York, USA H: 14.8 inch This object is not available anymore.

wood, blackish brown sacrificial patina, strong encrusted in some areas, overlong slender trunk, both arms missing, just the hands preserved which are both held in a protective way in front of the stomach, smooth facial features "overmodelled" with mass, base;
present figure most likely belonged to a female society and was used for the education of young girls. Such figures were displayed on funerals and presumably on certain fertility and rain-making rituals as well. They were called "so-ma-so" ("listen to me"), a sentence effective for education and for prayers for fertility as well.


Schmidt, Johann-Karl (Hg.), Dogon, Stuttgart 1998, p. 107