Rare 19th Century Original Primordial Sculpture Dogon Tribe, Mali, West Africa

This work's scale and complexity have led scholars to suggest that it may have been created for display at the funerals of influential Dogon men. The graphic composition constitutes an eloquent statement concerning the distinct and yet complementary roles of male and female partners as a unit of life. With understated elegance and an economy of details, the artistic distills man and woman to a perfectly integrated and harmonious union. One of the most striking aspects of the representation is the degree of bilateral symmetry that describes man and woman as reflections of each other with delicate and subtle departures that indicate their distinct identities. The figures' elongated bodies are depicted as a series of parallel vertical lines traversed by horizontals that draw them together. On the reverse side a small child clinging to the female's back is balanced by a quiver on the back of the male. That concluding pair of features distinguishes their respective role as nurturer and provider joined together to procreate and sustain life.

This seated couple sculpture introduces an important conceptual theme in Dogon mythology. The couple asserts the primacy of gender roles. Showing the female and male as equals in their responsibilities. The interlocking form's complexity visually conveys the male-female gender as an ideal unity; strengthening the importance of the couple in assuring the continuity of life. Because of the reciprocal relations between the supernatural and humans realms in animistic thought, the carved images serve to beget order in both the human and supernatural worlds. In addition, symbolic references to male and female unity not only serve as a form of sympathetic magic to produce fertility but also as a pleasing device to attract benevolent forces from the ancestors carved at its base. The attribution as a primordial couple may thus be understood by a parallel symbolic value of these carved images - depicting sexual unity and order, as the idea of continuity of the generations.
Dimensions: 39 1/2" H x 13" W x Base 12" dia.
Condition: Good.

18%

Victor Suarez | (917) 669-0591 | victor@clearinghouseestatesales.com

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