TERA Gallery - African Art and Antiquities

"Altering The Way You View The World Of Art"
Type of Object:
    Dogn Horseman With Hoe
    20th c.

    According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's ART OF
    THE DOGON-SELECTIONS FROM THE LESTER
    WONDERMAN COLLECTION (which has an outstanding
    Dogon horse and rider on the cover,) "Dogon figures
    depicting horses and riders reflect the prestige and power
    surrounding an animal that has been associated with royalty
    since horses were introduced to West Africa more than a
    thousand years ago."

    "Dogon equestrian figures are most often identified as
    images of the HOGON, since in Dogon society horses are a
    luxury generally reserved for rich an powerful people. ."

    Horses appear in Dogon mythology about the creation of
    the world, and the horse has been interpreted as a
    blacksmith who represents NOMMO, or other mythological
    beings. In Dogon mythology,  the horse was the first animal
    to leave the ark, and symbolize chieftanship, power, and
    wealth.   

    The west African Bambara/Bamana people claim that
    offensive military attacks can be countered, and war
    averted, by holding a sculpture of a horse and rider in the
    direction of an advancing enemy.  When slave raiding was
    still in threat to every small community, equestrian sculptures
    were believed to be effective in reversing military energy
    and persuading the aggressor to seek another village to
    plunder


Ethnic Group:
    Dogon Society


Country of Origin:  
    Mali

Material:   
    Iron

Dimensions:

Reference:                  
    Laude's AFRICAN ART OF THE DOGON.   
             DOGON CLIFF DWELLERS, by Imperato