Dogon Standing Male Star Gazer Figure

Seventy-four inches of very nearly nothing.

This standing male star gazer figure comes from the Dogon peoples of Mali, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is hand-forged copper and iron. Dogon smiths have long made iron figures and implements for shrines and altars, where elders and priests are thought to have used them in offerings for rain, harvest and ancestors. A tiny flattened head tops three long lines: two arms falling in a wide V and a thin, twisted body. A small spur juts from the middle. Green flecks the metal, and the two legs meet a squat bell-shaped base. Seventy-four and a quarter inches high.

It takes up almost no room, and most of the attention.