Dogon Seated Female Figure

Legs out, arms at her sides, shoulders broad and squared. She sits like someone who has all afternoon.

Dogon metal figures, made by the lost-wax process, were kept on shrines, and seated women often allude to fertility and the continuity of the family. This one, bronze, Mali, 20th century, measures just over three inches tall. Real metal hoops hang from her ears. A close-fitting coiffure frames a calm face with a long nose.

A prominent navel, finely hatched surfaces, a soft gray-green patina.

She has a presence out of all proportion. Pay no attention to the size.