Pirogue 34 cm - Dogon - Mali (No reserve price)

A crew made up of couple figures called “nommos,” on a journey toward a mythical epic, their ship taking the shape of a crocodile. This imaginary world, drawn from Dogon creation legends, still inspires the work of Dogon artisans today. Ochre patina.

The Dogon blacksmiths form an endogamous caste among the Dogon called irim. They today produce weapons, tools, and they also work wood. “Masters of fire” linked in Dogon cosmogony to the primordial beings “Nommo” created by the god Ama, are also said to heal burns. Small metal objects, made using the lost-wax technique, were widespread in the region of the inner Niger Delta, copper reaching there thanks to trans-Saharan trade. Excavations on the Bandiagara plateau have indeed uncovered remains of ironmaking sites predating the fifteenth century, the date of the Dogon arrival. The Nommo, protective ancestor evoked in various forms in Dogon iconography, would be an ancestor endowed with the capacity to manifest himself in human or animal form."