Heddle pulley
Senufo
mid-20th century
Object Place: Burkina Faso
Dimensions
Overall: 14.6 x 6.7 x 5.1 cm (5 3/4 x 2 5/8 x 2 in.)
Accession Number
2009.5363
Medium or Technique
Wood
Not On View
Collections
Africa and Oceania, Contemporary Art
Classifications
Heddle pulleys, found across a wide area of West Africa, hold the double heddles of the horizontal looms. They consist of two pieces: the spool (often lost), and the u-shaped part that supports it, which the carver embellishes with elegant heads, masks, animal forms, and abstract motifs.
Provenance
About 1968, acquired in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta), by Drs. Eli and Carolyn Newberger, Brookline; 2009, year-end gift of Eli and Carolyn Newberger to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 20, 2010)
Credit Line
Gift of Eli and Carolyn Newberger