Dogon Seated Female Ancestor Figure with Internal Sacred Stone

Inside the figure, a stone. The Dogon do not say what it knows.

This cast brass woman from Mali, 20th century, encloses a sacred stone within her body. Small metal figures were kept by Dogon families and priests in shrines dedicated to ancestors, where they could hold spiritual power and receive offerings.

She sits with her knees drawn up, one long arm along the leg, the other bent across the chest. The head is tall and elegant, with a crested coiffure, an earring and a pointed profile. The body swells into a broad oval with a beaded, serrated edge.

Six inches tall, brown, rubbed to bright brass at the high points. Keep her close to the middle of the room.