Whistle
Unknown Artist
19th century
Medium
Wood
Dimensions
Height: 19 5/16 in. (49.1 cm) Width: 5 7/8 in. (15 cm)
Classification
Aerophone-Whistle Flute-whistle
Culture
Mossi or Guronsi People
Department
Musical Instruments
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Gifts of June Fenton and Mr. and Mrs. Peter M. F. Sichel, by exchange, 1982
Accession Number
1982.89.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
This intricately carved wooden whistle, dating to the 19th, hails from the Mossi or Gurunsi of Burkina Faso in West Africa. Standing at 19 5/16 inches tall and 5 7/8 inches wide, exemplifies the skilled woodworking traditions of these cultures, where instruments like this aerophone—classified as a whistle flute—were crafted from local woods and often featured anthropomorphic elements, such as stylized heads, evoking human or spiritual forms. In Mossi and Gurunsi societies, such whistles played vital roles in rituals, ceremonies, and daily life, producing shrill tones to signal events, accompa...