Dogon Bronze Equestrian Figure

The rider has a snake. Of course he does.

Dogon casters of Mali returned often to the mounted rider, and in the Sahel the horse was a mark of prestige. This one, cast in bronze in the 20th century, stands four inches high. The rider grips a serpent that rises in a long, sinuous coil before him, its head lifted well above the horse’s neck. He wears a domed topknot, has large ears, and keeps his knees drawn up against the horse’s flank.

The horse stretches its neck far forward to a flattened, upturned head and stands on four long, splayed legs.

Mottled gray-green all over. Everyone here is concentrating.