Bura Figurative Vessel Top, Based

Hollow eyes. A mouth built of stacked ridges. Nothing about this face is shy.

Bura heads and figures were made for the dead and placed atop jars in burial grounds near the Niger River. This vessel top, from the 11th to 15th centuries, is a flattened, shield-like face. Deep hollowed eye sockets flank a short nose with open nostrils, and below them the mouth is rendered as stacked horizontal ridges. A rounded ear projects at one side.

The pale sandy clay is worn and encrusted, with darker staining across the brow. On a black stand it measures six and a quarter inches. A small face with the stare of a large one.