Dogon royal box

Ogo Banya or Dogon offering cup (soul carrier)

Hoyon cups are beautifully decorated utensils generally made of bronze following lost wax techniques or sculpted in green wood. Its use is always ceremonial, but its function ranges from the simple kitchen utensil, to the vessel for millet or chapaló in enthronement ceremonies of the spiritual head of the community (hogón), to containers for sacred amulets.

In this case, the cup is made of bronze and is resting on two caparisoned horses. In the belly of the cup there are two ancestors, a man and a woman, two scorpions holding lotus leaves (a symbol of fertility) and two series of cowries. The waters of a mystical river have been represented on the neck of the glass, and an old man smoking on the shell of a turtle acts as a cover.

In the Niger River basin, the freshwater turtle or turtle is usually considered a psychopomp (transporter of souls), which indicates that this Ogo Banya was manufactured to contain funerary-style amulets.

Height: 55 cm; Length: 28cm; Width: 20cm; Weight: 7.11 Kg