CC0 · no rights reserved
Staff finial
From the collection of National Museum of African Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Presenting only the essentials of the form, a Bamana blacksmith created this minimal image of a horse and rider, elegant in its stylization and simplification. In Mali, iron ore has been smelted and forged since the end of the first millennium B.C. Blacksmiths of the region still forge iron using techniques developed centuries ago. When heated, iron can be hammered into any desired shape. It hardens into a permanent form as it cools. Smiths are regarded as extraordinary for their ability to transform raw iron into tools, weapons and ritual objects.
National Museum of African Art’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineStaff finial. Early to mid-19th century. Bamana artist. National Museum of African Art, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn to the Smithsonian Institution in 1966. CC0.
