Handle in form of horse and rider

This figure, which may have surmounted a chief’s cane or formed the handle of a fly-whisk, shows a delightful indifference to equine physiology in the horse’s portrayal with a humanoid face (echoing that of the rider), cloven hooves and a body grooved all over in a manner reminiscent of the strange Sherbro-style ivory beast in the British Museum (Fagg, 1959: pls. 30-32).

Since the West African carver, when they wished, could produce an adequately realistic representation of a horse (see UEA 231), it is tempting to speculate that the artist was either carving a horse from hearsay, or intending to portray some other animal associated with chiefship and its attributes. The peaked cap suggests that the rider could be a European or a chief wearing a cap. Visonå (1987: 63, fig. 7) illustrates a staff finial with comparable figures.

Margaret Carey, 1997

Entry taken from Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection, Vol. 2: Pacific, African and Native North American Art, edited by Steven Hooper (Yale University Press, 1997) p. 135.