Dogon Seated Figure with Offering

Three inches tall. It still manages to pray.

Dogon metalworkers in Mali used the lost-wax process for miniatures like this one, many showing people in offering or prayer. The figure sits with knees raised and feet on flat pads, lifting a round bowl to its face in both hands. A rounded topknot crowns the head, with a long, narrow nose and close-set eyes. Bronze, 20th century, dark and speckled with pale green verdigris around the bowl and legs.

Keep it on a desk. Small things concentrate the mind.