"Binu" Priest on Cosmic Stool

An extremely fine and important wood sculpture of a male figure seated on a stool. Apparently a Binu priest, the intermediary between people and ancestors. He is naked, has a prominent beard and his sex is clearly shown. He sits on a stool supported by carytid figures, the upper and lower parts of the stool representing heaven and earth. The top of the stool is decorated with zig-zag motifs, symbolizing water. His hands are positioned to hold an iron bell and a separate iron clapper, used to awaken people to say their prayers and to keep the rythmn for incantations.
Height: 27.5 inches (69.8 cm.)
DG004

A very similar example, of height 73 cm. and attributed by Leloup to “N’duleri, Bandiagara Plateau” and the 17th-18th century, is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, illustrated as # 128 in “Dogon Sculpture”. Another version, height 94 cm., is in the Musee des Beaux-arts, Montreal, Canada.