Details
ITEM NAME:
Seated Dogon Figure
ITEM #:
4510
ETHNICITY:
Dogon
ORIGIN:
Mali
MEDIUM:
Wood
DIMENSIONS:
21″ tall (53.3 cm)
CONDITION:
Good.
PROVENANCE:
Private Estate Collection – Florida, USA.
CATALOGUE NOTE:
The Dogon people in Mali have a unique cosmogony explaining the world’s creation and societal structure. They believe in the earth and sky as linked disks by a sacred tree, with figures symbolizing nommo twins and significant elements like light and water. This seated Dogon figure, is representing the female part of the Primordial Couple, source of authority in their society supported by eight nommos. This figure embodies their social and political structure, with local village leaders (hogons) delegating power under a supreme hogon. The stools, symbolic of creation, reflect Dogon’s federative system blending spirituality and politics to maintain order, the base representing earth, joined to the heavens by four nommos.
Nommos, in the intricate tapestry of Dogon cosmology, are of profound importance, embodying the essence of both the spiritual and the material worlds. Revered as ancestral spirits descending from the sky, they are not only harbingers of knowledge and culture but also serve as intermediaries between the supernaturals and the Dogon people. The twin aspects of nommos symbolize duality and balance — essential concepts in Dogon thought, reflecting the harmonized coexistence of opposites, such as earth and sky, male and female, life and death. Through rituals and ceremonies dedicated to nommos, the Dogon seek to establish a divine connection, ensuring fertility, well-being, and harmony within their community. This underlines the nommos’ pivotal role in sustaining the spiritual and social equilibrium of Dogon society.
