Bura Figurative Vessel Top, Based

Small, alert, a little amused. Heads like this one have been keeping watch over the dead for a long time.

It is Bura, from Niger, made in the 11th to 15th centuries, and it once crowned a funerary jar, as Bura heads were meant to. The face is an oval. Eyes are raised rings. The nose is broad, the nostrils flared, the lips full and slightly parted above a rounded chin. Ears project at the sides. The red-orange clay is stained darker grey around the features and lightly pitted.

Six inches on its rod and black base. Keep it near the desk lamp. It likes to see how the work is going.