Lot 18 Dα

This superb Dogon female figure can be attributed to the Sanga region owing to its close similarity in style to the works of the ‘Master of Ogol’, so named after the figure now in the Musée du Quai Branly collected in the village of Ogol by Marcel Griaule during his third expedition of 1935. Bernard de Grunne identifies seventeen works which he categorises as ‘Master of Ogol’ (‘A Great Dogon Artist: The Master of Ogol’ in Tribal Art, Special Issue no.2, 2011, pp.16-35). Carbon 14 tests on those that have been tested range from 15th to 17th century for the oldest to the 19th century, suggesting they are most likely not the work of a single artist. The present figure resembles most closely the figure which carbon 14 testing suggests is the oldest, now in the collection of the Dapper Foundation (op cit. p.30, fig.16 and p.35, fig.17) with its atypically small mouth and nose. The patination and wear on our figure would seem to suggest a similar if not earlier date.

Griaule’s collection notes for the Quai Branly figure state: “a representation of a seated woman, whose ‘beard’ represents a labret. Has a braid of hair at the head, which should be rolled up, but which the artist could not render except in this way. Usually kept in the house of the hogon (religious leader). Placed on the mortuary house, dressed, for the funerals of wealthy families”. Germaine Dieterlen writing about the figure in the Walt Disney-Tishman collection states that the figures come from altars that were erected for rituals dedicated to women who had died in childbirth. The gesture of the hands (held together before the abdomen and pointing downwards) symbolises pregnancy.