Bura Figurative Funerary Marker, Based

They kept watch over the dead. Simplified human forms, standing in the open, for centuries.

That is the Bura of the Niger River valley, and this tall stone funerary marker is from the 11th to 15th century. Their burial grounds are known for markers of stone and terra cotta. Here a flat-topped head sits on a long, gently tapering column. A ridge runs down the brow into a straight, prominent nose, flanked by small round eyes and curving C-shaped ears, with an open slot of a mouth. The pale buff stone shows faint reddish traces and soft, weathered edges.

Nearly seventeen inches, on a black metal stand.