Bura Figurative Vessel Top, Based

A starburst on the forehead. Pellets along the brow. Somebody wanted this face remembered.

Bura artists of Niger often adorned faces with applied patterns, and this vessel top, from the 11th to 15th centuries, is a fine case. The head is rounded and narrows into a long, tapering neck, club-like in profile. Raised lines radiate from between the eyes, framed by a band of small applied pellets. Beneath, a small nose and a ringed mouth. Such sculptures topped jars in burial grounds. The orange clay is dry and lightly worn, darker at the crown.

Nine and a quarter inches. It holds its own beside larger company.