Mossi Wood Slingshot, Burkina Faso, Based

Every boy in West Africa knew a slingshot. Few ended up looking like this.

The Mossi of Burkina Faso carved this one in wood in the 20th century. Across West Africa slingshots were everyday tools, carried by boys and young men for hunting small birds, and carvers often turned the forked handle into a small sculpture.

Here a standing woman’s legs form the two prongs, joined by a broad arch at the hips. Arms hang free. Breasts small and pointed. The torso is covered in finely incised geometric marks, and the head is a narrow crested oval.

The surface is deep brown, well handled, worn at the high points. Nearly ten inches tall. A tool that got ideas.