Male figure "dege"

Description

wood, rich brown patina, with remains of black paint, helmet-shaped head with beard and prominent facial features, v-shaped ornament on the back, fragmentary (both legs missing), minor missing parts (mouth, beard), 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.