Baule Wood Slingshot, Ivory Coast, Based

Part tool, part portrait. The Baule saw no reason to choose.

Baule carvers often brought the same refinement to useful objects as to figures, and slingshots used for hunting birds were sometimes topped with a human head. This one, wood, Ivory Coast, 20th century, has an arched fork rising into a long neck and an oval face. Narrow eyes, a straight nose, a small mouth, a tall peaked coiffure.

Nine inches high on a black base. The patina is dark and glossy, worn to warm brown on the high points by long handling.

Fine for a pocket. Finer on the mantel.