Bura Figurative Funerary Marker, Based

A head shaped like a leaf, set on a body shaped like a block. Whoever carved it knew what mattered.

The Bura people of Niger made this stone funerary marker sometime between the 11th and 15th century. The culture is known chiefly from its burial grounds along the Niger River, where markers of this kind stood over graves. The head narrows to a point at the crown, dominated by a long ridge of nose. Small incised eyes and a neat mouth sit within fine radiating lines at brow and cheeks, and a raised collar ring marks the neck. The gray-green stone has light pitting and a few rusty stains.

Eleven inches, on a black metal mount.