Dog sculpture "tou wala ganamba" with magic metal object · Mali, Dogon · ID: 3047368
sold
EUR 3,000
Provenance
collected in situ (1960)French Industrial Collection
Pierre Dartevelle, Brussels, Belgium
Zemanek-Münster, 11 November 2017, Lot 201
German Private Collection
Size
H: 32,5 cm
L: 57,5 cm
H: 12.8 inch
L: 22.6 inch
Description
wood, metal (corroded), the sculpture is covered by a thick encrusted sacrificial patina, base
The iconography of the dog is linked with the historic Dogon migration.
Jean Laude (1973, ill. 54) reports about a legend, according to which the wet paws of a dog led the Dogon to vital water points at the Bandiagara cliff. Only then was it possible for them to survive in the inhospitable area, to drive away the Tellem that lived there and to take possession of the area for themselves.
Depictions of dogs commemorate this important event in Dogon history.
Comparing literature
Laude, Jean, African Art of the Dogon, New York 1973
Publications
AHDRC: 0147847