Vintage Brass Traditional Dogon Male Head Figure – Mali

This is an unusual small brass male head of the Dogon tribe of Mali. It was made using the same traditional lost wax casting technique as for all other brass objects ever made in Africa. The complete figure is first fashioned of bees wax, harvested by hand in traditional beehives. Then a relatively primitive investment made of mud is pressed around it incorporating a “funnel” into which the molten brass is to be poured. The invested wax figure is baked in a fire until it’s hard and the wax melts out. The molten brass is poured into the resulting mold after which the mold is broken off when cool. Modern techniques allow the mold to be reused but traditional techniques “break the mold” so each object is unique; the molds cannot be reused. 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/2″ (16.5 x 11 x 9 cm)