Details

LOT 1954

Dogon Iron Multiple Oil Lamp Stand

CIRCA 19TH CENTURY A.D.

52 in. (6.25 kg total, 132 cm including stand).

Iron flat-section shaft with three tiered cross-bars, the two lowest each with five iron lamp-bowls to the forward face; above, a U-shaped bar with a lamp bowl at each upper end; top of the shaft developing to an anthropomorphic torso with ellipsoid head and two narrow arms raised vertically; chain around the neck with hand-forged extinguishing spoon; mounted on a square base; Dogon, Mali, workmanship.

Provenance

From the private collection of Dr Hans-Joachim Koloss, Berlin, Germany, 1975-2002.
Gorny & Mosch, Munich, Germany, auction 279, no.410.

Accompanied by a copy of the Gorny & Mosch invoice and illustrated catalogue listing.
Accompanied by a copy of the German cultural export licence.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Footnotes

The figure is probably a Nommo, a primordial ancestral spirit in Dogon cosmogony. A Nommo is usually considered to be amphibious, hermaphroditic and fish-like. They are typically depicted in Dogon art with a humanoid upper torso, and a fish-like lower torso and tail.