West African Mali Dogon Carved Wooden Door Panel. Carved. Dogon granary door panel from Mali, West Africa, carved from wood with a dark patina. It features relief carvings of stylized figures, possibly ancestors, and two prominent Kanaga masks or stylized bird figures (likely herons or storks), often symbolizing protection and fertility.

Size: 11 x 11 1/2 in.

Dogon doors are hand-carved wooden panels created by the Dogon people of Mali, traditionally used to secure granaries and homes while also serving as powerful cultural symbols. Their surfaces are covered with intricate, low-relief imagery—figures, animals, ancestral spirits, and geometric motifs—that reference Dogon mythology, social structure, and cosmology. These carvings were meant to protect stored grain from both physical and spiritual harm, reinforcing the door’s role as a threshold between the everyday world and the sacred realm. With age, touch, and weathering, the wood develops a rich patina, turning each door into a unique historical and aesthetic object collected today for both its artistry and the layered cultural narrative it embodies.

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