Mossi Lidded Vessel with Figural Motif

He holds his belly the way anyone does after a very good meal.

This lidded vessel with a figural motif is terra cotta, from the Mossi people of Burkina Faso, West Africa, mid 20th century. Mossi potters supplied households with the jars used for water, grain and beer, and a modeled figure like this one takes the everyday form somewhere more personal. A face with incised brows and whiskered cheek lines looks straight ahead. Reddish arms curve around the body, with fingers spread above a raised navel, and a knobbed lid sits like a hat. 19 inches high.

He has the expression of someone keeping the contents to himself.