On view
Ceremonial vessel,
16th–early 20th century
More Context
This geometrically incised container, supported by a comparably decorated horse, was used to hold rice and other foods prepared for the investment ceremony of the <em>hogon</em>, the religious and political leader for a group of Dogon villages. The <em>hogon</em>, or high priest, led the cult of Lebe, the first Dogon ancestor to die. The horse, a traditional indicator of wealth and prestige, relates to the <em>hogon</em>’s connection to the moment of creation when Nommo, a Dogon mythic being, transformed into a horse in order to transport to earth an ark holding the eight Dogon primordial ancestors. The lid, which has been lost, would have been surmounted by an equestrian figure. Dogon bowls are often hundreds of years old as the dry climate of the Bandiagara escarpment afforded a favorable environment for the preservation of wood sculpture. Without carbon dating, however, the precise age of this bowl cannot be determined.
Information
16th–early 20th century
Africa, Mali
- The Herbert Baker Collection, (New York: Museum of Primitive Art, 1969). , p. 31; cat. no. 159 (illus.)
- "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2009," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 69 (2010): p. 51-85., p. 80
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 340
