Dogon House Post with Fertility Motif, Based

A small head, a long neck, and a great deal of emphasis elsewhere.

This house post with fertility motif is Dogon, from Mali, West Africa, 20th century, carved of wood and now mounted on a base. Forked posts of this sort are best known from the toguna, the low Dogon men's meeting shelter, and many carry breasts or figures in relief. Here a forked top opens over two wavy raised bands. Below them, a tiny face sits on a slender neck above two large, pendulous breasts. The surface looks weathered and deeply checked, with a split low on the shaft. Eighty-one inches high.

Few posts make their point so plainly.