Togo Na Dogon pillar, Mali Wood H. 139 cm Provenance... Lot 32

Togo Na Dogon pillar, Mali Wood H. 139 cm Provenance : Paul and Jacqueline Canfère collection acquired from Jean-Michel Huguenin (according to oral information from descendants). Togo Na, or toguna, meaning "shelter of men", designating the hut, the open construction erected in general, traditionally in the center of Dogon villages, located along the cliffs of Bandiagara. Of insufficient height to stand upright, they thus invited the participants to sit down. It was an essential place where the wise men of the village discussed the problems of the community, and also a place of customary justice. The Toguna usually rested on eight wooden pillars. Here, in a wood poetically eroded by time, appears an imposing conical chest, the whole abstractly symbolizing the torso of a woman.