Bura Figurative Vessel Top, Based

A sphere with a slit for a face. It sounds like very little. It is not.

This terra cotta head is from the Bura culture of the Niger River valley, in present-day Niger, made between the 11th and 15th centuries as the top of a figurative vessel. The Bura are known chiefly through archaeological finds at funerary sites. The head is a near-perfect sphere on a short, broken neck, the face pared to a small slit, tiny applied knobs ringing the crown. The orange-red clay is softly scuffed, and the break shows the coarse body of fired earth.

Eight inches on a slim iron mount. Presence, in a small package.