A FINE AND RARE DOGON SHUTTER

of rectangular form, with a knob for the hinge, the large central crocodile carved in high relief with a smaller crocodile at the abdomen and surrounded by eight figures and a pair of breasts; exceptionally fine weathered patina.

PROVENANCE

J. J. Klejman, New York, 1967
Helen W. Benjamin, New York
By descent through the family

CATALOGUE NOTE

Cf. Ezra (1988: 93, figure 44) for a closely related shutter in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, formerly in the Lester Wunderman Collection. The exact symbolism of the composition is unknown, but the granary itself is often associated with the celestial ark of origins and creation among the Dogon. The door itself can be likened to a heartbeat with its opening and closing signalling the vitality of the granary to Dogon life.