Bambara Figure Depicting a Quadruped

Consider a long, rusty, rod-bodied animal with a tail curling like a fiddlehead.

This figure depicting a quadruped is Bambara, from Mali, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is iron. Animal figures in West African art can refer to proverbs, clan associations or qualities admired in the animal, with meanings that vary from one community to another. Flat-profiled figure made of thin, rough rods in rust-brown tone. Two pairs of forked legs hold up a straight body, with a small pointed head at right and a hooked tail at left. It is 5.5 inches wide, 1 deep and 2.5 high.

Minimal lines, maximum attitude, and a very fine tail.