Advanced Search 
Heddle pulley
Baule
mid-20th century
Object Place: Cote d'Ivoire
Medium/Technique
Wood
Dimensions
Overall: 17.1 x 6.4 x 7.3 cm (6 3/4 x 2 1/2 x 2 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Eli and Carolyn Newberger
Accession Number2009.5365
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsContemporary Art, Africa and Oceania
ClassificationsDecorative arts
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.
ProvenanceAbout 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)