African Culture
Coming at Auction : an Old African Hermaphrodite
Tropical Africa is a moist continent, not conducive to the conservation of objects. The remainings of ancient civilizations are scarce.
It will be noted in the sale of Sotheby's in New York on May 15 a wooden figure from Mali for which a carbon-14 dating provides an age of six to nine centuries. So it was created before the European explorations and before the installation of the Dogons in the region where it was found. Bernard de Grunne gives that ancient tribe the name Soninke.
Its long-term conservation is due to its presence in a cave, safe from rodents, insects and men, in an area of cliffs that had remained dry. The character, 76 cm high, is a bearded figure with male sex and female chest. This synthesis of man and woman is a symbol of perfection.
This old hermaphrodite waits for 400 K $.
It will be noted in the sale of Sotheby's in New York on May 15 a wooden figure from Mali for which a carbon-14 dating provides an age of six to nine centuries. So it was created before the European explorations and before the installation of the Dogons in the region where it was found. Bernard de Grunne gives that ancient tribe the name Soninke.
Its long-term conservation is due to its presence in a cave, safe from rodents, insects and men, in an area of cliffs that had remained dry. The character, 76 cm high, is a bearded figure with male sex and female chest. This synthesis of man and woman is a symbol of perfection.
This old hermaphrodite waits for 400 K $.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rosalind M Letcher on -
This is very interesting. I'm very interested in the Dogon I met some people from Mali and traded some of my art work with them. I have read the writings of Ogotemelli that explains the Dogon cosmology which is mind bogaling. This is a very facinating subject the had obsure knowldge that was not discoved by the outside world until the Hubble telescompe confired what they reported . This is on of the greatest arguments for the existence of extraterrestrial life.
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Permalink Reply by Pierre Tavlitzki on -
Thank you Roz for this very interesting video.
The fact that few artefacts remain from a nearly totally lost culture does not mean that such a culture was poor. We should be astonished if we have the means to know more about how people lived 2000 or 20000 years ago. The major milestone which led to all our current civilization is the invention of agriculture in permanent settlements circa 9000 years ago.
Coming back to the Sotheby's figure. It is very exciting to know that it is in wood and well preserved. It comes much later than Nok culture (but was possibly influenced by it ?). Some terracottas are also remnant of that culture. De Grunne named this culture Soninke but another scholar name it Djennenke. De Grunne counted circa 40 statuary works from this culture. Many of them were probably hidden in a cave when invaders (Dogons ?) came. Here is the page from the Sotheby's catalogue (protected by Sotheby's copyright, of course).
Pierre
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