Standing figure ·  Mali, Dogon · ID: 3038080

Description

light wood, encrusted greyish brown patina, genderless, typical posture, mass remains at the belly, dam. (facial features), cracks (left side of the head), missing part (base), base;
the Dogon placed male and female figures on altars, which mostly were dedicated to ancestors, either of real or of mythical origin. The figurative sculpture is called “dege” and was used to be poured with ritual liquids. Such sacrificial materials were looked upon as vehicles for “nyama”, the vital force that determines a persons mental and physical well-being and allows a person to live at all.

The object Standing figure with the object ID 3038080 was last part of the auction 79th Tribal Art Auction at March 21, 2015 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 142.

You can find more Figures and other popular object types on our related topic pages. You may also be interested in our page on African art.