Figural fragment ·  Mali, Dogon · ID: 3041141

Description

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.

Comparing literature

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