The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 26, 2025

Shoulder crook (yo domolo)

c. 1935

Africa, West Africa, Mali, Dogon-style blacksmith-carver

wood
Overall: 62.3 cm (24 1/2 in.)
Gift of Katherine C. White 1971.290
Location: 108A African

Did You Know?

The yo domolo is a ceremonial version of the everyday L-shaped staff (domolo) that a Dogon man carries.

Description

This crook (yo domolo) commemorates a divine theft: a protohuman called a Nommo stole embers with a similar crook, bringing fire and ironworking to earth. Using yo domolo, the Yona society (“ritual thieves”) reenacts this event following members’ deaths. Blacksmithing and fire are central to Dogon life; blacksmiths also carve. Each yo domolo they make links to a specific clan and can be visually interpreted several ways. This crook’s open “mouth” shows where the Nommo held the stolen embers, while its length echoes their earthbound journey down a rainbow. The zig-zags may be the expanding universe, thieving snakes, or even the keys robbers use.
  • (Herbert?) Rieser
    ?–1971
    Katherine White Reswick [1929-1980], Gates Mills, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1971–
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Original object card, curatorial file.
    2 Known as Katherine White Reswick, Katherine C. White (Reswick), Mrs. James B. Reswick
  • Fagg, William Buller. African Tribal Images;the Katherine White Reswick Collection. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968, no. 4. no. 4
    Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review 1972.” In Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 3 (March 1973): 106, no. 20. p. 106, no. 20
  • Arts of Africa. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 10, 2021-July 2, 2023).
  • {{cite web|title=Shoulder crook (yo domolo)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1935|access-date=26 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.290