Bura Figurative Vessel Top, Based

Worn nearly smooth by long burial. Features go first. The form, if it was good, stays.

The Bura people of Niger made this terra cotta head between the 11th and 15th centuries, to sit atop a funerary vessel placed over a burial. Such heads gave the vessels a human presence. Rounded and compact, a little over four inches tall. A pronounced ridge descends over the crown and down the face like the line of a nose. The sandy clay is mottled with darker earth and small losses at the edges.

Almost abstract now. A discreet black stand holds it.