Shrine figure

Most Dogon sculpture appears to have been made for shrines. This seated figure probably depicts a hogon, or priest of the important Lebe cult. It may have been made for a shrine devoted to Lebe, the divinity responsible for agricultural fertility. This piece was purchased from Charles Ratton in 1967. It was already in Ratton’s collection by 1960 when it was published in the influential book on African art and artists by the German ethnographer Hans Himmelheber.