Seated female figure ·  Mali, Dogon, Area of Senou · ID: 3034570

Description

wood, shiny brown patina, sacrificial traces, sitting on a small human figure, slender head, rep. (breakage right leg), dam., missing parts (arms, feet), fine cracks, slight traces of abrasion, wooden socle;
figures like the present belong to female societies and were used for the education of young girls. They were displayed on funerals and presumably on certain fertility and rain-making rituals as well. According to H. Leloup they were called “so-ma-so” (“listen to me”), a sentence effective for education and for prayers for fertility as well.

Comparing literature

Bedaux, Jean Baptist, Art of the Dogon, Brüssel 2012, ill. 54 Laude, Jean, African Art of the Dogon, New York 1973, ill. 33