Dogon Standing Female Figure, Based

The Dogon blacksmith stood apart from other men. His figures came to the family altar.

This small standing woman in iron was made in Mali in the 20th century. Such figures were kept as personal objects of protection or placed on family altars. Five and a half inches tall, she has a long face beneath a pointed crest, full pendulous breasts and hands meeting at the abdomen. A girdle of overlapping leaf-like forms hangs over a flat apron, and incised marks texture the shoulders and chest. Her long straight legs end in flat feet held by brackets on a black square base. The patina is soft and mottled.

She keeps her hands folded. Her purpose is not.