DOGON TELLEM FIGURE MALI

DOGON TELLEM FIGURE MALI carved wood, standing on an integral circular base, the legs bent at the knees, the left arm raised, the right held to the side, shown with a long beard and iron rod protrding from the head, raised on a bespoke wooden mount (24.1cm unmounted) Provenance: Frank Freidman, United States Karim Deen, Nyack, United States Andrew Chierniavsky, London, United Kingdom Note: The Tellem (literally "those who were before us") peoples are believed to have occupied the Bandiagara Escarpment in central Mali until the arrival of the Dogon peoples in the sixteenth century. They are particularly well known for producing enigmatic stylised figures. These sometimes centuries-old objects were kept in the shelters or caves of the Bandiagara cliff that were difficult to access. They were repeatedly treated with offerings over many years, producing the distinctive thick, cracked, patination seen here. The pose of raising the arms has been widely interpreted as an invocation for rain.