Minneapolis Institute of Art

Stool

Dogon artist

Date

16th-17th century

Medium

Wood

Culture

Dogon

Department

Arts of Global Africa

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Dogon from Mali have a long artistic tradition, and some of their wooden artworks have survived over the centuries. This ceremonial stool is over 400 years old. Never meant to be sat upon, it combines sculptural elegance with cultural meaning. The seat seems to be supported by delicately carved figures, four pairs in total. They represent the nommos, male-female pairs of twins who are the founding ancestors of humankind and teachers of culture. The nommos join the sky, the seat, with the earth, the base of the stool. This is how the Dogon historically viewed the universe, made of two disks connected by a tree. If you carefully look between the figures, you can see the stool’s central post, which represents the cosmic tree. Africa

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