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Equestrian ring

19th–mid-20th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 341
A European visitor to Dogon country early in the 20th century wrote of the "astonishing perfection" of the ornaments created by local blacksmiths through the lost-wax process. While copper-alloy ornaments have been created in the Dogon area for almost a millennium, exact dating of these miniatures remains largely speculative, established on the basis of stylistic analysis. Interestingly, there is no evidence of copper mining in the region. The metal may have been obtained through trans-Saharan trade networks that brought copper from Spain, North Africa, and the Sahara to commercial centers of the Sahel and Sudan.

A master blacksmith cast this miniature with elaborate detailing of the rider’s and mount’s finery. Armed equestrian figures give a sense of the importance of military might to Middle Niger settlements during a moment of increasing religious, political, and economic turmoil. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the western Sahel were defined by French and British colonial intervention, and by that of rival Islamic states. In an effort to expand their religious authority in the region, the Middle Niger polities maintained armies with impressive cavalries. An ornament like this one may have been owned by a member of those forces.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Equestrian ring
  • Artist: Dogon blacksmith
  • Date: 19th–mid-20th century
  • Geography: Mali, Bandiagara Escarpment
  • Culture: Dogon peoples
  • Medium: Copper alloy
  • Dimensions: H. 3 × W. 2 × D. 3/4 in. (7.6 × 5.1 × 1.9 cm)
  • Classification: Metal-Ornaments
  • Credit Line: Gift of Andre Nasser, 1981
  • Object Number: 1981.425.1
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

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