Bura Figurative Vessel Top, Based

Mid-sentence. That is where this head stopped, mouth an open oval, as if the next word were already on its way.

Bura people, Niger, made sometime between the 11th and 15th centuries. It once capped a funerary jar, and archaeologists have found Bura vessels crowned this way in the burial grounds of the region. What survives is head and neck, broken at the crown. Round, ringed eyes. A long nose. Curving ears. A band of fine impressed marks circling the neck, all in pale sandy clay worn crusty with age.

Six and a half inches, on a black rod and plate. Some speakers are better left unfinished.