Tellem figure - SOLD OUT
The traditional art of the peoples of Black Africa
Statuette of Nommo, Tellem, Dogon.
In Dogon cosmogony, Nommo is the son of Amma, a god with the appearance of an egg. This primordial egg is made up of Amma's four fused clavicles, which prefigure the four elements: water, air, fire, earth. During the third genesis, Amma gave birth to the Nommo Anagonno. Amma's egg is imagined as a double cosmic placenta, upper and lower placenta, from which God will draw to form human beings.
The sacrifice and resurrection of the Nommo are symbolically evoked during the annual agrarian rites, performed in the totemic sanctuaries of the villages and the bush.
Among the Dogon, the main motif is that of the sacrificed Nommo. These are anthropomorphic statuettes of varying dimensions, kept in the sanctuaries of the totemic cults of Binu. The Dogon indeed devote a cult to Nommo. The figures are carved from wood considered pure and powerful. Each one depicts a relationship of Nommo with its creator Amma.
Griaule and Dieterlen have inventoried the meaning of the different gestures. When the two arms are raised, but separated, the Nommo prays to Amma to keep him close after the resurrection, like a child reaching out to his father.
An important part of the objects in this collection were donated to the Museum of Ethnography in Geneva in the 1980s. We undertake to provide detailed information on request.
01202
Data sheet
- Presumed dating
- Mid XXth century
- Size
- 58,5 cm
- Ethnic group
- Material(s)
- Wood, sacrificial materials
- Country
- Origin
- Tribal art collection Switzerland
- Stand
- Condition
- Very good
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The traditional art of the peoples of Black Africa
Statuette of Nommo, Tellem, Dogon.
In Dogon cosmogony, Nommo is the son of Amma, a god with the appearance of an egg. This primordial egg is made up of Amma's four fused clavicles, which prefigure the four elements: water, air, fire, earth. During the third genesis, Amma gave birth to the Nommo Anagonno. Amma's egg is imagined as a double cosmic placenta, upper and lower placenta, from which God will draw to form human beings.
The sacrifice and resurrection of the Nommo are symbolically evoked during the annual agrarian rites, performed in the totemic sanctuaries of the villages and the bush.
Among the Dogon, the main motif is that of the sacrificed Nommo. These are anthropomorphic statuettes of varying dimensions, kept in the sanctuaries of the totemic cults of Binu. The Dogon indeed devote a cult to Nommo. The figures are carved from wood considered pure and powerful. Each one depicts a relationship of Nommo with its creator Amma.
Griaule and Dieterlen have inventoried the meaning of the different gestures. When the two arms are raised, but separated, the Nommo prays to Amma to keep him close after the resurrection, like a child reaching out to his father.
An important part of the objects in this collection were donated to the Museum of Ethnography in Geneva in the 1980s. We undertake to provide detailed information on request.