Kotoko Bronze Equestrian Figure

Three figures, one silhouette, crowned.

The Kotoko live south of Lake Chad and are known for small lost-wax castings. The horseman, a reminder of the region’s historic cavalry, comes up again and again. In this 20th-century bronze the central rider wears a tall ribbed conical headdress, flanked by two smaller upright forms. A twisted rope rein runs to the horse’s head, which curls back on itself in a spiral. Four long legs lift the group.

The surface is worn to a bright golden finish, with darker texture in the recesses. Rather a lot of procession for two and three-quarter inches.