Dogon Standing Star Gazer Figure

One arm aimed at the heavens. The other has given up.

Dogon peoples of Mali, West Africa, are the source of this standing star gazer figure, made in the 20th century from hand-forged copper and iron. Blacksmiths hold a special place among the Dogon, and their forged figures were set on altars where families addressed ancestors and asked for rain, though what each gesture means is still argued over. A single rising arm runs far past the head, while the other hangs slack at the side. The body leans, the knees kink, and everything narrows to a stump of a base. The metal looks pitted and dry. Sixty-seven inches high.

Astronomy has seldom looked this thin.