Dogon Altar of a Janus-headed Dog, Mali, ca. 15th-18th century

Private Collection, France, acquired in 1972

Excellent condition for an object of this great age and rare type. The legs eroded with age and ritual use as shown, with thick layered patina covering areas of loss/erosion. Exceptionally fine crusty multi-layered patina of various ritually-applied materials, with drips, striations, and areas of accumulation. Fixed to base with two metal posts drilled into the undersides of two opposite legs (i.e. front left and back right).
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Since Marcel Griaule's early 1930s "Mission Dakar-Djibouti", an expedition sponsored by the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, Dogon art has become one of the iconic traditions in African art history.  Kate Ezra (1988: 15) notes: "The Dogon captured the imagination of European and American artists and intellectuals in the 1930s with the austere beauty and isolation of their environment, the power of their sculpture, and the richness of their rituals [...].  The Dogon live in one of West Africa's most spectacular landscapes.  Their home is the Bandiagara Escarpment, a row of cliffs stretching 125 miles from southwest to northeast, parallel to the Niger River.  The steep cliffs, some of them almost two thousand feet high, are cut in massive blocks separated by natural gorges, their sharp-edged faces punctuated by caves.  The cliffs make access to Dogon villages difficult, and even though the center of Dogon country is only about 90 miles from the ancient commercial city of Jenne [Djenne], visitors to Dogon country since the beginning of the twentieth century have stressed the sense of isolation and remoteness that pervades the cliffs.  According to oral traditions, the Dogon chose to settle on the cliffs precisely because of their inaccessibility.  They have provided a place of refuge from attacks by neighbouring ethnic groups, which over the past five hundred years have included the Mossi, Songhai
[Songhay] and Fulani."

Dogon statuary is linked to "a vast body of myths pertaining to the creation of the universe, the struggle between order and disorder, and the place of mankind within it" (Ezra 1988: 16).  The iconography of the dog is linked with the historic Dogon migration, as recounted by Jean Laude (1973: pl. 54): "When the migrating Dogon arrived at the edge of the Bandiagara cliff, they came into conflict with the Tellem, who jealously concealed the location of wells and water holes.  Exhausted by their journey and parched by the drought, the Dogon saw one of their dogs come running with wet paws.  They occupied the watering place discovered by the animial and, thus refreshed, were able to dislodge the Tellem from the Cliff.  Depictions of dogs commemorate this important event in Dogon history. [...]  According to Desplagnes, who made his observations in 1907, there was a dog clan in the Dogon country, and the animal was ritually sacrificed, in all likelihood over his sculptured image."

Large-scale dog-shaped Dogon altars are exceedingly rare.  Cf. one in the Musée Dapper, Paris (previously Lester Wunderman Collection, New York; Laude 1973: pl. 54) and a second in the the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. "1979.206.140", previously Nelson Rockefeller Collection; Musée Dapper 1994: 209).  Both of these works are sculpted as a one-headed dog with an empty receptacle in the center of the back.  The offered lot is distinguished from these works by its janus-headed iconography as well as the presence of its magic bundle still in place in the center of the back.