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Dogon Seated Couple Statue Antique African Figure Tribal Sculpture Mali
A Sublime Old Dogon Seated Couple Statue Antique African Tribal Art - Figural Sculpture / Ritual Object - Mali
Collected from the: Dogon peoples of the western plateau in Mali, West Africa Material: Hardwood, pigment, oil Period: Early 20th century, conservatively Dimensions: 19.5" height, 4.5" outermost diameter; weight is 4.95 pounds Condition: Excellent - exquisite signs of age and wear from tribal use, minute age cracks test stable, slight forward tilt though the piece remains freestanding
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Dogon Couple Sculpture Traditions These statues are among the best known of Dogon sculptural forms. They are large figures, one male, one female, usually seated together on a stool or else on some other type of support. These figures often possess symbols of dual sexuality, with one sex being portrayed as predominant. The male figure may have three rings in each ear and three arm bands, since the number three is the number of masculinity. The female figure in turn may have a baby on her back, or four ear rings and four bracelets, the number four representing femininity. The hair style of these figures and those of other Dogon statues are similar to those worn by the Peul of today who live near the Dogon. It would be erroneous, however, to assume that these hairstyles refer to the Peul. Hairstyles among the Bambara were similar to those depicted in these Dogon statues, even after the turn of the century. It is more plausible that the coiffures represented in these statues were current at one time among the Dogon as they were among the Bambara. Examples of large seated couples are relatively rare in western collections, implying that they were sculpted infrequently and had special significance. They are said by some to represent the original Nommo couple, in a form which is iconographically more human than Nommo. However, it is also plausible that they do not represent the first or great Nommo couple but rather the first human couple or Primordial couple who Amma created after he created the first Nommo couple. It was from the former that the eight original ancestors decended. They were human in form, but later changed into Nommos when he went up to heaven to Amma.
Dogon Tribal History The 300,000 Dogon inhabit approximately 700 villages in Mali, primarily along a 125 mile (200 kilometer) stretch of escarpment known as the Cliffs of Bandiagara. These sandstone cliffs run from southwest to northeast, roughly parallel to the Niger River, and attain heights up to 2000 feet 600 meters (2000 feet). Accounts of early Dogon history vary according to the specific Dogon clan and/or archaeological records consulted, with multiple versions of the Dogon origin myth as well as differing accounts of their migration from early ancestral homelands to the Bandiagara region. The people call themselves 'Dogon' or 'Dogom', but in the older literature they are most often called Habe, a Fulbe word meaning 'stranger' or 'pagan'. Certain theories suggest the tribe descended from an ancient Egyptian race that journeyed first to Libya, then on into regions of Guinea or Mauritania. Around 1490 AD, fleeing Mande invaders and/or drought, they migrated to eventually settle in the Bandiagara cliffs of central Mali. Legend has it that a snake led them to the cliffs at the southern end of the plateau, where they overwhelmed and usurped the local Tellem and Niongom populations. Carbon dating on remains excavated from the cliffs indicate the Toloy culture of the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC, and the Tellem culture of the 11th to 15th centuries AD inhabited the area long before the Dogon arrived. The influence of these earlier cultures continue to be noted in Dogon art to this day.
Dogon livelihood is based on agriculture production concentrated in fields at the edge of the cliffs where water is scarce, but enough for occasional irrigation. Agricultural dependence has recently forced the Dogon to move away from their beloved cliffs onto the more fertile Bongo plains to maintain their agricultural production of millet, of vital importance to feeding the tribes. Onions, one of their only cash crops, are sold as far away as Cote d'Ivoire. Villagers are known to use bark ropes to scale the towering Bandiagara cliffs in search of pigeon guano and Tellem artifacts that are then sold to subsidize their meager existence. As the Dogon are both Muslims and Animists, their social and religious organizations are closely interlinked. Assimilation of the popular Muslim beliefs was initially somewhat limited by topographical isolation and tribal exclusivity. The four principle Dogon cults of the Awa, Lebe, Wagem, and Binu, significantly contribute to the richness and diversity of Dogon culture. For these various cults the hogon is both priest and political chief of the village. The tribe’s self-defense comes primarily from their social solidarity which is based on a complex combination of philosophic and religious dogmas, with the fundamental law being the worship of ancestors. Ritual masks and corpses were enshrined in caves and used for ceremonial rituals. All Dogon villages have at least one togu na, a shelter where the men gather, and a Lebe shrine where the Hogon presides over their rituals.
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