Heddle pulley "kono" · Côte d'Ivoire, Guro · ID: 3037493
Stacy Collection, Washington D.C., USA
Description
wood, encrusted blackish brown patina, crowned with a girl’s head (a motif much favoured by this ethnic group) with fine carved coiffure arranged in bow-shaped contours, chignon with drilled hole for suspension, complete with crossbar and bobbin, slightly dam., slight abrasion (nose), traces of usage (hole for suspension/bobbin);
as with the Senufo the Guro’s heddle pulleys do not have any ritual or magic meaning but are in fact made as “l’art pour l’art” objects whose only purpose is to provide aesthetic pleasure.
The object Heddle pulley “kono” with the object ID 3037493 was last part of the auction 78th tribal art auction at October 18, 2014 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 229 achieved a sales price of EUR 2,700.
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Comparing literature
Schädler, Karl-Ferdinand, Weaving in Africa, South of the Sahara, Munich 1987, p, 156