Vintage Baoule Heddle Pulley retailer from Ivory Coast

Age unknown these are Vintage 9.5 inch Baoule Heddle retailer Pulley from Ivory Coast.

Baoule peoples and their neighbours to the West, the Guro, are famous as weavers, and are known for their fine indigo-and-white cotton fabrics. Used on the traditional narrow-band loom, heddle pulleys are functional objects used to ease the movements of the heddles while separating the warp threads and allowing the shuttle to seamlessly pass through the layers of thread. Like many other carved objects used in everyday activities among the Baule, these pulleys were often embellished for the weaver's delight.   This figurative pulley with carved a head demonstrates the efforts put by Baule and Guro artists into beautifying the simplest functional object.