Bura Figurative Vessel Top, Based

A cone, with a hole at the tip. The Bura did not always need a face.

Many of their funerary terra cottas were shaped as abstract or columnar forms, set above jars in burial grounds. This vessel top from Niger dates to the 11th to 15th centuries. It is a tall, bullet-shaped cone, its tip covered in fine stippled texture and pierced by a small round hole. Low on the sides are two small lug-like projections, and the front carries a raised ridge above a small round boss.

The surface is smooth, warm orange with gray clouding. Nine inches tall on its black stand. Pared down, and all the more pointed for it.