Bura Figurative Vessel Top, Based

Two pinpoint eyes. A rounded nose. A mouth drawn in two parallel lines. Nothing is hidden.

This is a vessel top by the Bura people of Niger, made in the 11th to 15th centuries. In Bura cemeteries, sculpted heads like it capped jars set over graves. The face is tall and oval, with a softly domed crown, and the ears sit as low lobes at the sides above a short neck.

The surface is a weathered reddish orange with dark mottling and areas of encrustation. A black stand raises it to eight and a quarter inches. A frank look is a courtesy, and this one offers it.