Dogon Pendant Depicting Seated Figure, Based

Memory, in bronze, at a scale you can close your hand around.

Cast by the Dogon of Mali in the 20th century, about three inches tall. Pendants like this were worn or carried as personal objects, often linked to protection and to the memory of ancestors. The figure is long and attenuated, with a pointed conical crest and a compact face. A narrow rectangular torso. Arms run straight down to a thick, beaded band at the hips, and the short legs end in flat feet. Dark, mottled, softened by wear.

It stands on a small black base. All vertical, no apology.