Vessel's lid with sitting male figure on top "ogo banya" or "ogo koro" · Mali, Dogon · ID: 3053546
Michael Storrer, Zurich, Switzerland
Swiss Private Collection
Zemanek-Münster, Würzburg, Germany, 31 October 2015, lot 186
Arno Henseler, Munich, Germany
Description
wood, pigments, metal,
Probably once part of a special type of receptacle which used to be supported by horse sculptures. Accordingly, the sitting figure on top of the lid might be a representation of the “hogon”, who is the spiritual leader, provided with political and ritual skills and bearing the responsibility for rain and for the prosperity of the community. The vessels served as ritual receptacles on the occasion of inauguration. According to various sources they were filled with food, which was distributed to the people during the enthronement of the “hogon”. These lidded vessels, which serve no practical purpose whatsoever, have been appreciated far beyond their functional value since the 1920s by early collectors such as Tristan Tzara and Béla Hein.
Comparing literature
Leloup, Hélène, Dogon, Paris 2011, p. 312
Publications
Homberger, Lorenz (ed.), Die Kunst der Dogon, Zürich 1995, p. 56, ill. 14
AHDRC: 0083804
Exhibition
Zurich, Museum Rietberg: Die Kunst der Dogon, 7 May - 3 September 1995; Munich, Germany, African Statuary South of the Sahara, Galerie Ethnographica Henseler, 6 March 2020 - 12 June 2020