Statuette - Dogon / Mali

Native to Mali, the Dogon are an ethnic group of approximately 1,200,000 individuals who settled in certain regions of present-day Nigeria but are known as the "Dogon Country". Composed of a wide sandstone plateau along the great Niger River. It is in this region that the highest point of Mali is located, rising to more than 1000m in height. The Dogon statuettes were kept in family shrines representing ancestors or mythical beings. Some of them were found half buried in caves and covered with a deposit forming a reddish and crusty patina from the blood of sacrificed animals. The Dogon attribute them to the Tellem, the former inhabitants of the cliffs near the Dogon "capital", Bandiagara. Thus, one could notice a certain influence of the aestheticism specific to the Tellem in the Dogon statuary. The latter is characterized by a particularly recognizable aesthetic. We regularly find one or two arms raised to the sky or thin, straight and elongated bodies. A beautiful patina in orange hues runs through this object, ribbed in the vertical direction by a crack that takes nothing away from the charm of this piece. We will notice a small metal piece on the upper part of this finely executed statuette.