Authentic Dogon granary door shutter field collected by me in the village of Ireli in the Bandiagara Escarpment, Mali in 2001. Traditional shutter carved from a single piece of wood used to seal grain stores. The front is carved in low relief with standing ancestor figures arranged in two registers with zigzag borders representing water and fertility, the back is plain with adze marks. The figures are ancestral representations that invoke protection for the stored grain, ensuring abundance and guarding the household against theft and malevolent spirits, a central theme in Dogon cosmology where ancestors mediate between the living and the grain that sustains them.
Purchased directly from a family in the village of Ileri on the escarpment in 2001 and brought back. The door offered is shown in photos 1 to 11. Photo 12 shows field documentation from the same trip and is not included.Photos 1-11 show the exact door you will receive. Photo 12 is a collage of field documentation from the same 2001 trip for reference — not included as physical item.
Sold as is as an ethnographic artifact. A genuine, vintage functional object collected legally in 2001. Includes printed provenance note with photo of shutter.
Approximately 15"X16". Approximately 19" from top to bottom tenon.
USA Shipping Only. No PO Boxes.
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