West Africa, Ivory Coast, 20th century CE. A wooden pulley in the form of a buffalo head with a scalloped, triangular-shaped face, curved horns on top, long slender nose, small square mouth, and semicircular eyes. The U-shaped body is pierced through the legs for attachment containing the bobbin. Created and used by the Senufo peoples, this type of object is a heddle pulley, used on a narrow band loom to ease the movements of heddles (part of the looping mechanism of a loom), while, as the curatorial team at the Metropolitan Museum of Art describes of a very similar object, "separating the warp threads and allowing the shuttle to seamlessly pass through the layers of thread." These objects, although functional, were often carved to showcase the ability of the weaver and hung over their workshop. Size: 2.45" W x 5.45" H (6.2 cm x 13.8 cm)

Provenance: ex-New York Collection

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#117072

Tip of one horn gone; fine aged patina.