Fine Tear Drop Stirrup

While the first horses appear on the African continent care of the Egyptians around 1600 BCE, horses and more specifically horse riding only took hold in West Africa during the first millennium C.E. The civilizations of the Inner Niger Delta, such as Bankoni and Djenne-Jenno, crafted equestrian figures, often with quivers on their backs, underscoring the martial significance of riding.

This lost wax cast copper alloy stirrup is of much later vintage, being no earlier than late 19th c., but still evidences the importance of the equestrian and his horse. Stirrups of this general form and of similar detail come from Burkina Faso, Mali and Northern Côte d’Ivoire. Horses do not fare well too far north of the Niger as there is insufficient fodder or daily water. Conversely, horses fare equally poorly south of the Sahel, where the presence of tsetse flies and the livestock diseases they carry eliminate horses as a means of transportation or vehicle of war. All this serves to make horses that much more precious to those who can maintain them. As a result, horse tack in the Sahel is often especially finely designed, crafted and detailed. $225

6.5″ H

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