Torso of a female figure ·  Mali, Dogon, Nduleri · ID: 3040296

Description

wood, dark brown, oily patina in parts, fragmentary, abrasion of paint, 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

Leloup, Hélène, Dogon, Paris 2011, p. 352, ill.12