Dogon Iron Axe with Figure, Based

In Dogon country the blacksmith kept a respected, slightly apart position. His work shows it.

This early 20th-century iron axe carries a figure along its haft. Four and a half inches tall. A short haft rises to a flared, fan-shaped blade with a scalloped edge. The slender figure holds its arms in an open loop, legs bent beneath it. Dark, uneven iron, with patches of rust and pale encrustation. Figurative ironwork was tied to ritual and to the shrines of the community.

A tool with a passenger. It stands upright on a metal stand, as it should.