Guro Heddle Pulley, Côte d'Ivoire

Despite its canine-like appearance, this splendid old heddle pulley probably depicts a bat. Anne-Marie Bouttiaux notes, "bats (ban) often figure on small items such as spoons or loom pulleys. This animal is related to divination techniques because its nocturnal habits and navigational skills suggest it has occult powers.” (Bouttiaux, Guro, Milan, 2016).

An old paper label attached to the back of the pulley is inscribed with the word Zouénoula which, besides being the name of a town and department in central Côte d’Ivoire, was the term by which Paul Guillaume referred to certain Guro or Bete-Guro objects that he sold from the beginning of the 1920s; objects which Guillaume identified as Zouénoula (with corresponding labels or inscriptions) include a superb Guro mask from the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection at the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich (inv. no. 213), and a Guro mask sold at Sotheby’s, Paris, December 4, 2008, lot 134.