Bura Figurative Vessel Top

The hairdresser, whoever she was, did not hold back.

This vessel top comes from the Bura people of Niger, 11th to 15th centuries. Their burial grounds yielded jars capped with terra cotta heads, many showing carefully rendered hairstyles. Here the crown is dressed in thick raised ridges, each one finely notched, sweeping up and back like braided or plaited hair. Below sit a small square nose and a compact mouth in a broad, flat face, with small ears at the sides. The lower half of the column is roughened and encrusted. The clay is a muted orange-brown.

Ten inches, on a black stand. Hair and all.