Details

LOT 2697

Iron Nommo Ancestral Spirit Lamp Stand

DOGON TRIBE, MALI, CIRCA 19TH CENTURY A.D.

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

Flat-section shaft with three tiered cross-bars, the two lowest each with five 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.

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.

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.