Cameroonian Bronze Equestrian Figure

Picture a stacked-hat rider gazes ahead from a horse whose neck arches like a question mark.

This cast bronze equestrian figure from Cameroon is from Cameroon, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. Cameroon has a number of bronze and brass casting traditions, especially in the Grassfields, where metalworkers have long made figures and regalia for chiefs. In form, a small figure with a ridged, layered headdress sits on a horse with a heavy body and tapering legs. The grey-green surface is pitted and scuffed, with a faint pattern along the mane and a lump of rough casting at the belly. It is 1.75 inches wide, 0.5 deep and 1.5 high.

Steady in the saddle, and not an inch of it hurried.