Cameroonian Figural Ring Depicting Bird

A band covered in leaf-like marks, topped with a perched bird.

This figural bronze ring depicting a bird is from Cameroon, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is cast bronze. Birds appear in many African arts and are often associated with ideas such as vigilance, communication or the movement between earth and sky, though meanings vary by community. A ring whose broad band is decorated with rows of herringbone grooves. A bird with a round eye and curved beak sits on top, wings swept back, with arc-shaped lines on its body. The surface is dark green-brown with a rough, mottled patina. It is 1 inches wide, 1 deep and 1.75 high.

A bird with excellent footing and nowhere to fly.