Bura Figurative Vessel Top, Based

Big ears, a broad nose and a small, thoughtful mouth.

This figurative vessel top is Bura, from Niger, West Africa, and dates to the 11th to 15th century. It is terra cotta, on a base. The Bura culture of the Niger River valley is known chiefly through its burial grounds, where heads and figures in clay often crowned funerary jars, though their full meaning is still a matter of study. Here a rounded head with modeled ears and a heavy nose rises on a long cylindrical neck. The features are softened by wear, and the sandy buff clay is lightly pitted. It is 3 inches wide and 7 high.

Listening closely, as it has for several hundred years.