Bambara Figure Depicting a Quadruped

Barely more than a stick with legs, but the curled tail gives it a personality.

This figure depicting a quadruped is Bambara, from Mali, West Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is iron. Bambara, or Bamana, people are a Mande-speaking people of Mali, and their blacksmiths have long made iron objects including staffs and small figures. Very slim, horizontal figure of rust-brown rod. A coiled spiral tail rises at one end, a blunt head with a small knob sits at the other, and two thin, bent legs support the middle. It is 6.5 inches wide, 0.75 deep and 1.25 high.

Less is more, and this one took that seriously.