H x W x D: 14.9 x 31.5 x 12 cm (5 7/8 x 12 3/8 x 4 3/4 in.)
Type:
Decorative Arts
Geography:
Mali
Date:
11th-14th century
Label Text:
In the Bandiagara cliffs, above the villages now occupied by the Dogon people, carved wooden headrests have been found in burial caves. The Dogon, who do not now use headrests, attribute them to the Tellem, former inhabitants of the region from the 11th to the 16th centuries. Rogier Bedaux, who has excavated in the burial caves, asserts that headrests "do not occur in Dogon contexts."
Tellem headrests that have been excavated from documented cave sites have elegant silhouettes but minimal decoration. Other undocumented examples, like this one, are adorned with circles, zigzags or other geometric designs. Although unusual, some headrests have animal heads projecting from either end of the curved upper platform. The heads resemble those found on troughlike containers and benches of the contemporary Dogon. This example is unusual because the platform support is hollow, like the Dogon coffers in the form of a quadruped, and instead of the dessicated grayish appearance of headrests excavated from the caves, this one has a dark brown patina. It is possible that the museum's headrest was originally made for the Tellem but reused by the Dogon.
Description:
Wood headrest ornamented with horse heads projecting from both sides of the rectangular base, which is itself decorated with triangular chip-carved motifs around the top and sides. A rectangular cavity is carved in the center of the seat. A small animal head, probably a horse, projects from the lower portion of the base.
Provenance:
Saul Bellow, Chicago, 1969
Exhibition History:
Life...Afterlife: African Funerary Sculpture, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 19, 1981-March 1, 1982
African Sculpture, Princeton University Art Museum, February 2-March 14, 1971, no. 3
The Language of African Art, Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution Fine Arts & Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., May 24-September 7, 1970, no. 5
Published References:
Museum of African Art. 1970. The Language of African Art, A Guest Exhibition of the Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution Fine Arts & Portrait Gallery Building. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, no. 5 (not illustrated).
Museum of African Art. 1971. African Sculpture at Princeton University from the Museum of African Art. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, no. 3 (not illustrated).
National Museum of African Art. 1981. Life...Afterlife, African Funerary Sculpture. Exhibition brochure. Washington, D.C., p. 6, no. 3.
National Museum of African Art. 1999. Selected Works from the Collection of the National Museum of African Art. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 16, no. 2.
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Art Gallery. 1970. African Art. Amherst: University of Massachusetts, p. 8, no. 10.
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